1. religion and spirituality

AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ‘BEING RELIGIOUS’
IN EMERGING ADULTS WITHIN A TERTIARY EDUCATION SETTING
BY
THOMAS DRAVITZKI
A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington
in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Education
Victoria University of Wellington
2015
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ABSTRACT
Research in the last 30 years has shown that young people have been increasingly turning
away from religion during the period of emerging adulthood, despite the benefits that
religious people experience. The present hermeneutic phenomenological study explored
the meaning of young adults’ experiences of being religious in a New Zealand tertiary
education setting. Phenomenological interviewing was used to capture the experiences of
10 religious students, including how they practise their religion and what they believe,
with the aim of developing a deeper understanding of what being religious meant for
them. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of the findings showed that
being religious meant: having a relationship with God, being different to one’s secular
peers, experiencing challenges, and that being religious was ultimately constructive.
Many of the students experienced challenges to their religious beliefs and identities from
fellow students, teachers and at an institutional level. The benefits of being religious
outweighed the challenges and included: praying being therapeutic, religion providing
support and helping define the students’ life purpose and identity. The implications of the
study are discussed in relation to raising awareness about the importance of mutual
respect, moving beyond religious tolerance to fully inclusive education and improving the
integration of religious students in tertiary environments through curricular and cocurricular activities and programmes. Recommendations for future research include a
greater focus on assessing the extent of the challenges religious tertiary students’
experience, and examining whether students of particular religious traditions experience
unique challenges and benefits.
Key words: religious, interpretative phenomenology, students
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to extend my sincerest and heartfelt thanks to the following people whom this
thesis is dedicated to:
Chris Bowden, for first sparking my interest in Education. You are a wonderfully
engaging lecturer and have been an outstanding thesis supervisor. I could not have asked
for better.
My participants, for your openness and interest in my study. You have broadened my
knowledge of what it means to be religious and helped me fulfil my goal of completing a
Master’s degree.
Isabella McCafferty, for being my best friend. UBI.
Stan and Mary-Rose Dravitzki, for making the reality of postgraduate study possible
through your incredibly generous support.
Anna, Daniel and Krystyna Wells, Lucy, Peter, James, Jessica, Sophia, Oliver, Priscilla
and Jerome Smithson and Jane Dravitzki for being a constant source of joy and
encouragement.
My Grandparents Mick and Jean Dravitzki, Ned and Joan Radich, Godparents Tony
Dravitzki and Anne-Marita Gilmour, extended family, friends and anyone who has
supported me throughout my life. Your positive witness has had a profound influence on
me.
God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for Deus Caritas Est!
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CONTENTS
Abstract .............................................................................................................................. i
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ii
Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................................ 1
Introduction to the Problem........................................................................................... 1
Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................... 1
Background to the Problem ........................................................................................... 1
Need for the Study......................................................................................................... 2
Focus of the Study ......................................................................................................... 2
Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................... 2
Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................... 6
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 6
Religion and Spirituality ............................................................................................... 6
Challenges for Modern Day Religion ........................................................................... 6
Positive Youth Development and Religion ................................................................... 7
Emerging Adulthood and Religion ............................................................................... 8
Emerging Adults’ Religiosity and Experiences of Religion ......................................... 8
The Research Question................................................................................................ 16
Chapter Three: Research Methodology .......................................................................... 17
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 17
Thesis Objective .......................................................................................................... 17
Research Approach ..................................................................................................... 18
Epistemology: Constructionism .................................................................................. 18
Theoretical Perspective: (Interpretative) Phenomenology .......................................... 19
Husserl’s Descriptive Phenomenology ....................................................................... 20
Heidegger’s Interpretative (Hermeneutic) Phenomenology ....................................... 21
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Methodology: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis .......................................... 22
Rationale for Research Methodology.......................................................................... 23
Data Collection and Analysis Methods ....................................................................... 24
Participant inclusion criteria. ................................................................................... 24
Recruitment strategy. ............................................................................................... 24
Method of data collection. ....................................................................................... 25
Interview process. .................................................................................................... 25
Data analysis method. .............................................................................................. 27
Reliability/Integrity and Trustworthiness.................................................................... 29
Ethical Considerations................................................................................................. 31
Informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality. .................................................. 31
Protection of students and the reputation of the university from risk or harm. ....... 32
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 32
Chapter Four: Findings ................................................................................................... 33
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 33
Findings ....................................................................................................................... 33
Table A: Essential themes of the students’ religious experiences .............................. 35
Super-Theme 1: Having a Relationship with God ...................................................... 35
Participating in private and social rituals. ............................................................... 36
The relationship required personal commitment. .................................................... 38
Living life according to values. ............................................................................... 41
Having a ‘real’ and respectful relationship with a powerful friend. ........................ 43
Super-Theme 2: Being Different to Secular Peers ...................................................... 45
Having different beliefs, values and philosophies. .................................................. 46
Feeling confused resolving conflict of being stigmatised/stereotyped. ................... 48
Difference as something positive. ........................................................................... 48
Super-Theme 3: Being Religious Involved Inter/Intrapersonal Challenges ............... 49
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Having faith/religion dismissed. .............................................................................. 49
Not being understood............................................................................................... 51
Criticism and intolerance. ........................................................................................ 51
Negative stereotypes. ............................................................................................... 53
Being marginalised. ................................................................................................. 53
Intrapersonal challenges. ......................................................................................... 54
Super-Theme 4: Being Religious is Constructive ....................................................... 55
Praying is therapeutic. ............................................................................................. 55
Being religious is valuable. ..................................................................................... 56
Religion provided support. ...................................................................................... 57
Religion helps defines your purpose and identity. .................................................. 57
Religion has benefits after death. ............................................................................ 58
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 59
Chapter Five: Discussion ................................................................................................ 60
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 60
The Challenges of Being a Religious Student ............................................................. 60
Being different and part of a minority group. .......................................................... 61
Having beliefs dismissed. ........................................................................................ 61
Being misunderstood. .............................................................................................. 62
Criticism and intolerance. ........................................................................................ 63
Religious stereotypes. .............................................................................................. 64
Marginalisation. ....................................................................................................... 65
Personal and ideological challenges. ....................................................................... 66
Cultural and religious challenges. ........................................................................... 67
Being Religious is Constructive .................................................................................. 67
Praying is therapeutic. ............................................................................................. 68
Being religious is of personal value. ....................................................................... 68
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Religion provides support. ....................................................................................... 69
Sense of purpose and a positive identity. ................................................................ 71
Benefits in the afterlife. ........................................................................................... 72
Implications and Recommendations ........................................................................... 73
Understanding the lived experience of religious university students. ..................... 73
Supporting religious students. ................................................................................. 75
Integrating religion into the curriculum and inclusive teaching practice. ............... 78
Inaction and tolerance is not good enough .............................................................. 82
Limitations .................................................................................................................. 83
Phenomenology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. ........................... 87
Reliability/Integrity and Trustworthiness. ............................................................... 88
Findings. .................................................................................................................. 89
Future Directions ......................................................................................................... 90
Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 91
References ................................................................................................................... 93
Appendices ................................................................................................................ 101
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Problem
A phenomenon that has received attention in the literature is the change in religious
convictions of young people during emerging adulthood. For many young people this
change involves giving up their religion. Empirical literature has demonstrated that
religion is at its lowest level of popularity in emerging adulthood, which includes young
people in the 18-25 age bracket (Arnett, 2000), with tertiary experience being suggested
as a key contributor to this phenomenon (Uecker, Regnerus, & Vaaler, 2007). The
problem that results from such apostasy is that young people lose an avenue of support
and positive youth development in a time characterised by significant changes and
transitions.
Definition of Terms
In recent years, the body of literature exploring the topic of religion has steadily grown.
Despite this growth there is no universal definition of ‘religion’. Religion has been
described as a complex term with multiple definitions and a multifaceted nature
(Pargament, Magyar-Russell, & Murray-Swank, 2005). Love (2001) defines religion as
“a shared system of beliefs, principles or doctrines related to a belief in and worship of a
supernatural power or powers regarded as creator(s) and governor(s) of the universe” (p.
8). Other authors such as Pargament (2001) say religion involves a “search for
significance in ways related to the sacred” (p. 32). Religion in this study is defined as a
belief system concerning a sacred power or being. The phenomenon being explored in
this study is ‘being religious’ and involved an examination and interpretation of
students’ beliefs, practices, values and their particular ways of being in the world.
Background to the Problem
The decline of religiosity is “not new news” (Uecker et al., 2007, p. 1667). Studies from
the 1980s have highlighted a decline in church attendance and religious beliefs as young
people transition from being teenagers to adults (See for example Willits and Crider
1989). Various suggestions have been made about why young people give up their
religion. One suggestion is based on the freedom accorded to young people when they
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leave their parental home. This freedom gives young people the opportunity to cease
religious activities such as attending church services and engage in activities typically
frowned upon in their various religious traditions such as pre-marital sex (Uecker et al.,
2007). A second suggestion related to tertiary settings is that “Higher education tends to
expand one’s horizons and may also mean greater exposure to countercultural values”
(Hadaway & Roof, 1988, p. 36). Such exposure can erode religious values especially
when they have been poorly maintained or not understood (Hadaway & Roof, 1988).
Need for the Study
Little is known about why people give up being religious, just that they do. As a result
of much of the research being conducted in an overseas setting and employing
quantitative research designs, there is a gap in the literature for empirical research that
explores religious experience qualitatively. In order to gain a deep and rich
understanding of religious experience, interpretative phenomenology is an ideal
research methodology that will give insight into the contexts that shape this experience
and foster a greater understanding about this phenomenon.
Focus of the Study
The focus of this study is on young people aged 17-25 who have lived experience of
being religious. It is not the participants’ perceptions, thoughts or opinions that are key
to this study, but rather their accounts of their own experiences. The experiences that
they share are analysed and interpreted to contribute to the understanding of what it
means to be religious in a tertiary education setting.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to explore what it is like to be a religious tertiary student. In
a time of increasing secularism in New Zealand, the phenomenon of being religious
presents an interesting area of investigation, because approximately 40-50% of
emerging adults still state they have a religion (Statistics New Zealand, 2014). In
addition, the developmental period of emerging adulthood has not yet been explored
with great depth. It is during this period that many young people transition from
secondary school and pursue further education in tertiary settings and question and give
up religious traditions they have been a part of since childhood. Whilst there has been
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extensive research about religion and emerging adulthood conducted overseas,
especially in an American context, there is a paucity of research in New Zealand.
Research needs to be conducted that illuminates religious emerging adults’ involvement
in religion, the importance of religion in their lives and the meanings ascribed to their
experiences.
In light of this gap in empirical research the present study uses hermeneutic
phenomenology to not only describe the experiences of religious young people, but to
interpret what these experiences mean. The distinguishing feature of the emerging
adults in this study is that they are all tertiary students from Victoria University of
Wellington.
Chapter Two is a review of literature on empirical research focusing on religion and
emerging adults, who in many cases are tertiary students. Emerging adulthood is
discussed regarding the place it occupies in the human lifespan and the developmental
tasks that young people are faced with at this time in their lives. A second focus of the
review is an examination, summary and critique of empirical studies that focus on
religion and emerging adults in tertiary settings. The two areas of empirical research
reviewed include studies that identify factors and variables that lead to religious change
and the effects of religion and spirituality on the positive well-being of young people.
Thirdly, the review shows that the majority of studies are international and focus on
changes in religiosity/spirituality and the support and benefits that can be gained from
being religious/spiritual. These studies have been predominantly quantitative, although
several have employed mixed method designs. There are few New Zealand studies,
which have examined religion/spirituality and international students’ quality of life and
the relationship between religious coping, stress and quality of life of domestic and
international Muslim university students.
Finally, the review highlights the empirical gaps that exist within the field of religion
and emerging adulthood and establishes the contribution of this study by exploring the
phenomenon of being a religious student at university.
Chapter Three presents the methodology and methods used in this study. The chapter
begins by outlining the objective of this thesis: to understand the lived experiences of
religious emerging adults within a tertiary education setting. Three important questions
are posed to meet the study objective, about what being religious involves, why it is
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important and what it means. The framework for a strong research approach is presented
that guides the reader to the methodology used for this study, hermeneutic
phenomenology. A rationale for the selection of this methodology is included with
giving young people a voice, the extensive use of quantitative research designs and the
research question requiring an inquisitive/exploratory approach supporting the selection
of a qualitative methodology designed to interpret lived experience.
The participant inclusion criteria is detailed and includes the participants needing to
identify as religious, have lived experience of being religious, be enrolled at Victoria
University of Wellington and be 17-25 years old. The recruitment strategies used to
advertise and recruit the participants in this study are listed, including displaying hardcopy fliers, contacting key religious group leaders, sending fliers and emails to
lecturers, speaking to a Christian group in person and getting my supervisor to make
class announcements about my study. A qualitative research design was chosen because
little is known about the experience of being a religious tertiary student. In the present
study, the epistemology was constructionism (Crotty, 1998), the theoretical or
philosophical perspective was (interpretative) phenomenology (Lopez & Willis, 2004;
Van Manen, 2014) and method of data analysis was interpretative phenomenological
analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). The key stages used in the coding and
development of sub-themes and super-themes are described. The data collection method
was qualitative semi-structured open-ended interviews. Finally, the strategies used to
ensure reliability/integrity and trustworthiness are discussed along with the ethical
considerations of this study.
Chapter Four describes the key findings of this study. The chapter begins by describing
the overarching essence or meaning of what it means to be religious for the students:
engaging with the sacred. Parallels to this meaning are drawn with Pargament’s (2001)
definition of religion and a list of various manifestations of the sacred are included.
The findings of this study are presented thematically under four main super-themes: 1)
having a relationship with God 2) being different to one’s secular peers 3) being
inter/intrapersonally challenged, and 4) being religious is constructive. Each of these
super-themes is supported by numerous sub-themes that represent an interpretation of
the lived experience and verbatim extracts (lived experience descriptors) from the
students’ interviews.
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Chapter Five is the final chapter of this study and is a discussion of the findings and
their significance in relation to relevant literature and research. The implications of the
findings for supporting and understanding religious students are discussed, along with
how to improve their educational experiences for this group of marginalised and
misunderstood young people. The benefits of changing the way tertiary institutions
engage with religious students are outlined and a case is made for moving beyond
tolerance of religious students on campus. Suggestions are made about how to further
substantiate the findings of the present study and a number of recommendations are
made for future research. The limitations of the study are outlined and conclusions
drawn about the topic, the problem and the thesis. The next chapter reviews empirical
literature surrounding young people and religion.
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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
In the previous chapter the topic of this study was introduced. In this chapter the most
relevant and contemporary literature pertaining to the research question of this study: An
interpretative phenomenological analysis of religion in emerging adults within a
tertiary education setting is reviewed. The studies that are included in this chapter
reveal what topics surrounding young people and religion have previously been
addressed, the research methods used to examine them, their strengths and limitations
and the future directions for research they recommend. To begin the chapter religion is
defined, contextualised in a New Zealand setting and positioned in the developmental
period of emerging adulthood.
Religion and Spirituality
Many definitions exist that shed light on the characteristics of religion. An important
distinction to make in this study is the difference between religiosity and spirituality.
Religiosity is characterised in the literature as an “adherence to a set of doctrines or
membership in a body of people who share similar beliefs about God, holy observance,
and morality” (Davis, Kerr, & Kurpius, 2003, p. 358). Spirituality on the other hand is
characterised as being “closely related to transcendence, but without specific reference
to formal religious doctrine” (Davis et al., 2003, p. 358). To separate these two terms,
religion can be seen as sharing much in common with spirituality with the added
element of theological structure and formality (Davis et al., 2003). With the distinction
between religiosity and spirituality established, being religious in this study involved
the participants’ self-identifying as religious, being part of a formalised religious
tradition and being able to converse about their religious participation and experiences.
Challenges for Modern Day Religion
The number of people who identified with a religion in New Zealand decreased 6.7%
between the 2006 and 2013 censuses, with the emerging adult religious population now
less than half of the total emerging adult population (Statistics New Zealand, 2014).
Theorists and scholars have made suggestions for some time now to explain this trend.
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Hadaway and Roof (1988) in their evaluation of apostasy cited a number of challenges
that churches face including younger people choosing not to participate, having
objections to church teachings, not seeing church as relevant and lifestyle conflicts.
Other challenges that have been acknowledged that apply more generally to religion
come from a secularization paradigm that proposes that religious traditions are faced
with modernization processes that “will eventually have a negative effect on the
stability and vitality of religious communities, practices and convictions” (Pollack,
2008, p. 169). For example through religious perspectives being undermined by
secularized perspectives (Uecker et al., 2007).
Positive Youth Development and Religion
One field that has a strong interest in religion is human development, where religion has
been identified as a cogent source of developmental influence (Furrow, King, & White,
2004). Religion has been examined at different stages in the developmental lifespan
such as older adulthood. For example, previous studies have examined whether religion
can act as a buffer against the fear of death (Wink & Scott, 2005). Historically the
human lifespan has been divided into developmental periods, each with their own
unique developmental tasks, that when successfully completed, allow individuals to
navigate to the next developmental period (See for example Havighurst, 1948). Religion
has been linked to many tasks in emerging adulthood that surround identity, purpose,
meaning and prosocial commitments (Furrow et al., 2004) and has been credited with
assisting young people with existential issues such as suicidal ideation (Taliaferro,
Rienzo, Pigg, Miller, & Dodd, 2009). In this way religion can be seen as promoting
positive youth development.
Positive youth development in New Zealand is defined as developing “the skills and
attitudes they [young people] need to take part positively in society, now and in the
future” (Ministry of Youth Affairs, 2002 p. 4), which has strong parallels with the goals
and policies of universities. Despite this clear definition little attention has been given to
positive youth development during emerging adulthood (Hawkins, Letcher, Sanson,
Smart, & Toumbourou, 2009). Positive psychology has shed some light on this topic,
where Park (2004) points out that a psychological good life consists of support from
positive institutions, such as education providers, to help young people have positive
subjective experiences and individual traits. In order for this support to occur however,
7
young people need to feel connected (Ministry of Youth Affairs, 2002) and like they
belong in such institutions.
Emerging Adulthood and Religion
Despite the recognition of developmental periods across the lifespan it was not until
recently that emerging adulthood was given the status of being its own unique period.
Emerging adulthood has since been defined as the developmental period between
adolescence and adulthood (Barry & Nelson, 2005) typically focusing on the 18-25 age
bracket (Arnett, 2000). This period has been distinguished from adolescence and
adulthood by its developmental tasks, including; developing intimate and mature
relationships with others (Scharf, Mayseless, & Kivenson-Baron, 2004), being
financially independent from one’s parents (Arnett, 1997) and leaving home (Scharf et
al., 2004). This age group is synonymous with a vast proportion of university (college)
students, which is the defining characteristic of the emerging adults in this study.
Of particular relevance to the present study is that contemporary research and theory
suggests that late adolescence and emerging adulthood are times when some young
people:
(a) question the beliefs in which they were raised, (b) place greater
emphasis on individual spirituality than affiliation with a religious
institution, and (c) pick and choose the aspects of religion that suit
them best (Barry & Nelson, 2005, p. 246),
while others may reject their religion or cease attendance and affiliation. Emerging
adulthood is an ideal time for the questioning, change and selection of various religious
beliefs as it is a time when young people have existential questions about life purpose
and meaning, where religion offers a commitment to encounters with an ultimate
concern and purpose (Paloutzian, Richardson, & Rambo, 1999). This study will explore
and shed light on these experiences and suggest why they might question their beliefs
and/or why they remain important to them.
Emerging Adults’ Religiosity and Experiences of Religion
Change in religiosity is an area that has received extensive attention in empirical
literature. A number of studies have examined the factors and variables that lead to or
8
have been associated with changes in religiosity. Despite these studies, little is known
about why these factors and variables influence religiosity.
Lee’s (2002) study investigated religious change in college students. It used quantitative
survey data and found that many factors in the college environment influenced students’
religious beliefs, including: adopting liberal views, which decreased religious faith and
getting married which increased religious convictions. The explanation for liberal views
decreasing religiosity were attributed to them arguably running contrary to most
monotheistic religions (Lee, 2002). Whereas the explanation for marriage increasing
religiosity was attributed to married individuals being more inclined to attend religious
services which strengthened their religious convictions (Lee, 2002). To better
understand other factors leading to religious change, Lee (2002) suggested that a
qualitative research design may be appropriate.
In another study, Bryant, Choi and Yasuno (2003) used quantitative survey data to
explore how 3680 students’ (58.9% female, predominantly 18-19 years of age) first year
college experiences impacted their spirituality and religiosity. They found the students
were less likely to engage in religious practices, but were more likely to integrate
spirituality into their lives. Religiousness and spirituality were highly correlated and in
many cases predicted one another, with additional personal characteristics, institutional
variables and college experiences also playing an important role. Although little
explanation was given to support their findings, variables that were identified as being
negatively associated with religiousness included being politically liberal and affiliating
with Buddhism. Meanwhile variables that were identified as being positively associated
with spirituality included discussing religion and spending time with family (Bryant et
al., 2003). This study did not provide participants the opportunity to include items to
report their own degree of commitment to religion (Bryant et al., 2003).
Uecker, Regnerus and Vaaler’s (2007) study investigated religious decline in emerging
adulthood (an unidentified number were college students) using qualitative in-depth
interview data from a longitudinal study (Wave 1 included 20,745 American
adolescents and Wave 3 included 15,197 of the Wave 1 respondents). They found that
married young adults retained their religious commitment more than their single peers
and that cohabitation was linked to religious decline in terms of diminished religious
service attendance and self-reported importance of religion and disaffiliation from
religion. The explanation they gave for marriage resulting in the retention of religious
9
commitment was that “Marriage and religion are both social commitments; a young
adult who is prone to make one commitment is also more likely to make the other”
(Uecker et al., 2007, p. 1684). Cohabitation on the other hand was linked to religious
decline because cohabitors may have been sanctioned and criticised for their choice to
live together. The authors however conceded that they were only able to explain some
of the variance of religious decline in their study.
Other quantitative longitudinal studies have provided a picture of how religiosity
changes over time and the influence of university life. Stoppa and Lefkowitz’s (2010)
study investigated longitudinal changes in the religiosity of ethnically diverse American
emerging adults (52% female) aged 17-19, over their first three semesters of college.
The students (n=434) took part in a quantitative questionnaire that asked them about
their religious affiliation, behaviours and beliefs at three stages. They found that whilst
there were significant decreases in religious service and activity attendance, religious
beliefs typically remained stable. These findings suggested that when we talk about
young people being religious we need to consider practice as well as beliefs, because
they may not be active or practising but still believe. Stoppa and Lefkowitz (2010)
recommended that future studies “fully assess the actual meaning and content that
emerging adults attribute to…affiliational identifications” (p. 8). Finally, Lefkowitz’s
(2005) study examined emerging adults’ perceptions of changes resulting from their
transition to university using open-ended questionnaires. She found a decrease in
religious service attendance was the most common behavioural change and that many
young people had a stronger sense of faith, with some participants becoming more open
to other religions.
It is not just university or college attendance that influences religiosity. Other studies
have found that family factors and context can shape religious beliefs and practice in
young adults. Milevsky and Leh’s (2008) study examined the relationship between
intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and adjustment in emerging adulthood. They used a
quantitative questionnaire to ask 305 young adults (247 college students and 58 noncollege students) of which 116 were men and 189 were women, about their perceived
parental marital satisfaction, religiosity, social support and self-esteem. In their
European-American sample they found lower levels of religiosity were reported from
emerging adults from families of divorce. The explanation given for this phenomenon
was that early socialisation practices (or a lack of them) may influence religious
commitments in later life (Hoge, Johnson, & Luidens, 1993). In addition, those who
10
were classified as intrinsically religious had higher levels of self-esteem. The
explanation given for this phenomenon was related to previous research that has found a
positive relationship between
religiosity and adjustment in adolescent and older
populations (Milevsky & Levitt, 2004; P. B. Nelson, 1990). Milevsky and Leh (2008)
suggested that future studies should broaden the religious indices used to better
understand the dynamics of religiosity and adjustment.
Other earlier studies have also supported the connection between divorce and a decline
in religiosity. Zhai, Ellison, Glenn and Marquardt’s (2007) quantitative study of 1506
young adults (ages 18-35) found that religious attendance levels were significantly
lower for young adults who had divorced parents compared to those whose parents were
not divorced. The explanation given for this finding was that divorced fathers play
much less of a role in the religious socialisation of their children than fathers who are
not divorced. They cited the distinctive role of fathers as bridging the gap between
young adults and religious attendance. Although Zhai, Ellison, Glenn and Marquardt
(2007) felt they provided new insight into the relationship between parental divorce and
religious involvement, they conceded that longitudinal data would have provided a
more definitive explanation for their findings.
Despite these studies showing a change and often a decline in religious beliefs and
practice in young adults, a number of studies have shown that religion and spirituality
can have positive effects on the development and well-being of young people. Maltby,
Lewis and Day’s (1999) quantitative study examined the relationship between religious
orientation and the psychological well-being of 474 students (251 males and 223
females aged 18-29) in the United Kingdom using questionnaire measures. They found
that an intrinsic religious orientation (where one lives their religion) (Allport & Ross,
1967) including personal prayer had a significant positive association with
psychological well-being. On the other hand, an extrinsic religious orientation (where
one uses their religion) (Allport & Ross, 1967), such as attending church (a public
manifestation of religion) was sometimes linked with less than positive associations of
psychological well-being (Maltby et al., 1999). The researchers in this study
recommended replicating their study among other adult samples and suggested that
critical religious events and other factors involved in coping, such as stress, should be
examined to better understand the relationship between religion and well-being.
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Genia’s (1998) study explored the relationship between religious orientation and the
mental health of college students using Allport’s Religious Orientation Scale (Allport &
Ross, 1967). They found that greater existential wellbeing was reported by intrinsically
religious students than extrinsically non-religious students, who were more depressed
and had lower self-esteem. Kirk and Lewis’s (2013) more recent study had a similar
focus and explored religious behaviours and their impact on emerging adults’ health and
well-being using a college survey. Their study found that in instances where emerging
adults participated in religious activities, they had a greater satisfaction of life and lower
rates of substance abuse, mental illness and risky sexual behaviour. Religion provided
the emerging adults with support and was a protective factor and source of life
satisfaction. In a quantitative study published last year of the connection between
religion-based support and mental health of 200 under-graduate students in the United
States, Hovey, Hurtado, Morales and Seligman’s (2014) found strong support for
religion-based support (social interaction, instrumental and emotional) acting as a
mediator between religiosity and mental health.
Several studies in the last five years have examined how religious attendance may act as
a protective factor and improve life satisfaction and mental health in young adults.
Doane’s (2013) study examined the association between religiosity and subjective wellbeing of 324 Caucasian (85% female, average age 20.50) university students in the
Republic of Ireland using various quantitative scales such as the Satisfaction with Life
Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The results from their study showed
a positive association between service attendance and life satisfaction, and small
positive correlations between service attendance, perceived social support, and life
satisfaction. The researchers concluded that unique supportive relationships are fostered
in religious communities. These findings suggested that young adults may find support
in religious communities through relationships with others.
In another quantitative study conducted by Taliaferro, Rienzo Pigg, Miller and Dodd
(2009), 522 college students responded to various quantitative scales, such as the Beck
Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974), that explored
dimensions of spiritual wellbeing (where spirituality was highlighted as being more
inclusive than organized religion) in relation to reduced suicidal ideation. Their study
found that frequent church service or church-related activity involvement (6 or more
times in the last 30 days) was correlated with reduced suicidal ideation. In addition,
students with higher levels of religious, existential, and spiritual well-being reported
12
less frequent suicidal ideation than their peers with lower levels of wellbeing. The
researchers in this study recommended that future studies should investigate meaning
and purpose in life, as they may play an important role in the relationship between
spiritual well-being and suicide risk (Taliaferro et al., 2009).
Anye, Gallien, Bian and Moulton’s (2013) study used quantitative surveys to investigate
spiritual well-being and its relationship with college students’ health-related quality of
life, such as “wellbeing and life satisfaction as opposed to indicators of morbidity and
mortality” (Sawatzky, Ratner, & Chiu, 2005, p. 155). The results from their study
showed that more frequent participation in religious activities and higher levels of
spiritual wellbeing resulted in longer periods of better physical and mental health.
Young people who had lower levels of participation in religious activities and spiritual
wellbeing had shorter periods of good physical and mental health (Anye et al., 2013).
The purpose of Byrd, Hageman and Isle’s (2007) study of 161 American under-graduate
students (43 men and 118 women with a mean age of 20.1 years) was to explain the
frequently reported positive association between intrinsic religious motivation and
subjective well-being using questionnaires. More specifically the aim of their study was
to figure out whether the above association could be attributed to a more general
intrinsic life orientation (where something is done because it is rewarding in and of
itself), involving secular and religious domains (Byrd et al., 2007). The key result of
their study was that an intrinsic religious motivation promoted subjective well-being
independent of intrinsic secular motivations. Finally Nelms, Hutchins, Hutchins and
Pursley’s (2007) study examined spirituality in relation to health risks of college
students. They found that considering a spiritual component when evaluating a decision
involving risk that could have negative health effects, better health outcomes were
experienced, because a spiritual component may have resulted in a “more harmonious
and enlightened experience when confronting emotional challenges” (Nelms et al.,
2007, p. 262).
All of the empirical studies in this literature review have come from Western, and
mostly American populations and their findings may not be generalizable to populations
from other cultures and countries. There is little research that has explored religion in
emerging adults in New Zealand. Hsien-Chuan Hsu, Krägeloh, Shepherd and
Billington’s (2009) study explored religion/spirituality and international students’
quality of life. The sample in this study included 218 domestic and 164 international
13
students (mean age 23.78) at a New Zealand university. Using questionnaires they
found that in both their samples of domestic and international students
religion/spirituality correlated with psychological quality of life. The authors concluded
that religion/spirituality might help international students cope with acculturation
stressors. Limitations identified by the researchers in this study included the study not
assessing levels of stress and daily hassles and not recording the number of years the
international students had been resident in New Zealand.
A second New Zealand study by Gardner, Krägeloh and Henning (2014) used a
questionnaire to explore the relationship between religious coping, stress and quality of
life of 114 (81 indicated they were male and 32 female) domestic and international
Muslim university students (mean age 25.89). Their results showed that international
Muslim students were more religious/spiritual than domestic Muslim students. The
suggestion given to explain this finding was that through integration into New Zealand
(secular) culture spirituality/religiosity diminishes with time. Another important finding
was that international Muslim students used more negative and positive religious coping
strategies, which may have reflected the international students’ lack of integration into
New Zealand society which, would tend to make them slightly less religious/spiritual
with time (Gardner et al., 2014).
Most of the studies presented have been quantitative in design and have looked at
relationships between variables. Few studies have used mixed methods or a qualitative
research design to explore or explain the importance of their findings. One recent study
that used a qualitative research design was Rockenbach, Walker and Luzader’s (2012)
study. They used interviews to conduct a phenomenological analysis of college
students’ spiritual struggles. They found that despite the uniqueness of the experiences
and descriptions given by the students, one word could be used to describe the essential
meaning of their spiritual struggles: contrast (Rockenbach et al., 2012). Their study
supported my case for employing a qualitative phenomenological design because they
identified that the nuances and meanings of spiritual struggles had not been explored in
previous quantitative studies, which was also the case for my study regarding religious
experience.
In another study that included a qualitative element, Arnett and Jensen (2002) used
interviews and questionnaires in a mixed methods approach to examine 140 American
emerging adults’ (aged 21-28) religious beliefs. The found that religious beliefs are
14
highly individualised, childhood religious socialisation has limited effects and emerging
adults are sceptical of religious institutions (Arnett & Jensen, 2002). Although the
authors did not state any limitations or strengths in their study, a strength commonly
associated with a mixed research design is the way it helps to promote complementary
strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses (the fundamental principle of mixed
research) (B. Johnson & Turner, 2003) of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
In addition to studies focusing on changes in students’ and emerging adults’ religiosity
and the effect religion/spirituality has on the positive well-being of young people, other
authors have focused on the negative realities of religiosity in tertiary settings, such as
Hyers and Hyers (2008) and Rosik and Smith (2009). Hyers and Hyers’ (2008) study
explored discrimination experienced by 42 conservative Christians (average age 22
years) at a secular university. The students documented anti-Christian incidents using
diaries, and found that discrimination most regularly involved the derogation of
Christian beliefs, people and practices. A key strength of their study was that using
diaries meant there was minimal faulty recall of experiences of discrimination due to
time lapses. A limitation however was that some readers of their study may not view
some of the students’ experiences as discriminatory (L. L. Hyers & Hyers, 2008), as
what can be considered discriminatory is subjective. A second limitation was that little
was known about the perpetrators of the discrimination recorded in this study.
Information about the perpetrators may have provided background to such things as
their attitudes and the context of their alleged offences (L. L. Hyers & Hyers, 2008).
Rosik and Smith’s (2009) study explored religious based discrimination of 96 Christian
students (mean age 21.1) using a survey in secular and Christian university settings.
They found that although incidents of discrimination were low in both settings, they
occurred more regularly in the secular university setting where direct verbal insults and
hearing others making disparaging remarks were the most prevalent forms of attack
(Rosik & Smith, 2009). A limitation of this study was the self-report data collection
method that was used. Using this method meant it was unknown whether or not the
reported incidents of discrimination actually occurred or were discriminatory, as the
reported incidents may have been influenced by the respondents’ past experiences of
(perceived) discrimination (Rosik & Smith, 2009).
15
The Research Question
While this review has shown the depth of quantitative research conducted in emerging
adulthood in the areas of religious change and the influence religion has on positive
development and well-being, notable empirical gaps have emerged that prospective
researchers could address. The first of these gaps is for research that includes
participants from a diversity of religions. Empirical studies could draw on samples of
students that are not exclusively Christian or Muslim. Second, qualitative research
methods could be used that are invested in finding out the meaning of being religious.
Many studies have identified the religiosity of young people, but have not explained
why they are religious. Third, few studies have included New Zealand religious
university populations, despite the extensive research that has been conducted overseas.
Research that investigates samples from New Zealand could broaden the field of
religion and young people. Fourth, little research has explored the voices of emerging
adults so they can describe and have their lived experiences of being religious
interpreted. As a result there is an opening for research that values the depth and
richness of human experience where experiences are not quantified.
With the above empirical gaps in mind, the present study employs interpretative
phenomenological analysis to explore what it means for emerging adults (17-25) to be
‘religious’ in a New Zealand tertiary education setting.
16
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
The previous chapter included a detailed examination of research literature to highlight
what research has been conducted, and what is already known about the experiences of
religious emerging adults within tertiary education settings. The review of literature
showed previous studies have been mainly quantitative and focused on changes in the
religiosity and the role religion/spirituality played in promoting the positive well-being
of young people. The literature showed there is a lack of qualitative studies that focus
on the lived experience of being religious that explore what being religious involves,
how important it is, and ultimately what it means to be religious. To gain the most
detailed and rich descriptions of emerging adults’ experiences of religion in a tertiary
education setting, a thoughtful consideration of potential research designs was required.
This chapter outlines the objective of this study, and proceeds to justify the selection of
the qualitative research design used to meet the study’s objectives. It outlines the
participant selection criteria and recruitment methods, data collection and data analysis
method and strategies used to ensure reliability/integrity and trustworthiness. Finally,
the ethical implications throughout the research process are reviewed.
Thesis Objective
The objective of this study was to understand the subjective lived experiences of
religion in emerging adults (17-25 year-olds) within a New Zealand tertiary education
setting. To meet this objective this study explored the following research questions:
1. What does being religious involve? (e.g., what practices, rituals and activities are a
part of the students’ experiences?)
2. What is the importance of religion in the students’ lives? (e.g., how does religion
inform their identity, contribute to wellbeing and connectedness, and what are some
of the advantages and disadvantages the students experience as a result of being
religious?)
3. What does being religious mean to young university students? (e.g., what meanings
can be ascribed to their experiences of being religious: marginalisation, feeling
supported, being part of a community within an education context?)
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Research Approach
To lay a strong foundation for any research study researchers should consider four
important questions:
1. What methods do we propose to use? (data gathering technique/procedure)
2. What methodology governs our choice and use of methods? (strategy/plan of action
informing methods)
3. What theoretical perspective lies behind the methodology in question?
(philosophical stance that will give context to the process being undertaken)
4. What epistemology informs this theoretical perspective? (theory of knowledge
foundational in the theoretical perspective and methodology used) (Crotty, 1998)
These are discussed in the “reverse order” in this chapter, where the process of
constructing the research design of the present study involved reflecting on my own
personal research interests and strengths and previous empirical studies, as well as the
empirical gap demonstrated in the review of the literature.
A qualitative research approach was chosen to meet the inquisitive and exploratory
objectives of this research study. The choice to work within a qualitative research
paradigm also informed the selection of the methodology and methods used.
Epistemology: Constructionism
Constructionism was the epistemology that underpinned this research study.
Constructionism takes the view that: “all knowledge, and therefore all meaningful
reality as such, is contingent upon human practices, being constructed in and out of
interaction between human beings and their world, and developed and transmitted
within an essentially social context” (Crotty, 1998, p. 42). Put simply, unlike a positivist
paradigm whereby meaning is discovered and objective, in a constructionist paradigm
meaning is constructed and subjective (Krauss, 2005).
When using a constructionist paradigm there is no one true interpretation (Crotty,
1998), but rather multiple possible interpretations. According to this theoretical
perspective there are common themes in the lived experience of the participants and
common meanings across the student sample. There are also personal, individual,
unique and subjective experiences and meanings for each of the students. Regardless of
what themes and meanings have been constructed by the participants about their
18
experience of being religious, when data is collected about lived experience, it is not
collected so it can be generalised to a larger population (Koch, 1995) or another sample.
So the meanings and interpretation of those meanings are bound and situated within a
context of space and time and may not be reflective of reality for students beyond the
sample.
Crotty (1998) also makes the important distinction between constructivism and
constructionism, whereby constructivism focuses on individual meaning making,
whereas constructionism focuses on collective meaning making. Constructionism was
an appropriate epistemology for this study as the source of meaning making came from
multiple students and was used to explore the meanings of the phenomena being
studied.
Theoretical Perspective: (Interpretative) Phenomenology
Phenomenology is a methodology focused on “the study of the lifeworld” (Van Manen,
1990, p. 9). The life world is: “what we experience pre-reflectively, without resorting to
categorization or conceptualization” (Husserl 1970 cited in Laverty, 2003, p. 4).
Phenomenological research aims at “gaining a deeper understanding of the nature or
meaning of our everyday experiences” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 9) and because it focuses
on the meaning of everyday lived experience it is an appropriate philosophical and
methodological framework to use alongside constructionism. In order to gain an
understanding of the phenomena of interest the researcher must use the perspective of
the subjects or actors (for example emerging adults who are religious university
students) themselves to describe how they experience the world (Kvale, 2009). Unlike a
natural science which gains meaning from natural objects, phenomenology is
considered to be a human science, because meaning is generated through experiences in
the lived human world (Van Manen, 1997). Interpretative phenomenology as used in
this study involved examining the accounts, stories and narratives about the students’
lived experience of being religious, rather than examining their experience of the world
directly.
In order to support the rigour of phenomenological studies a connection must be
maintained between the phenomenology (research methodology) and the method used
(Stubblefield & Murray, 2002). By maintaining this connection the chance of
conducting and completing research that is “ambiguous in its purpose, structure and
19
findings” is greatly reduced (Lopez & Willis, 2004, p. 726). With this in mind one must
be aware that within the philosophical school of phenomenology more than one
approach can be used. It is important to distinguish the differences between each
approach to ensure the most effective phenomenological approach is used to achieve the
desired outcomes (Lopez & Willis, 2004). With the development of phenomenology
being described as a philosophical movement (Lopez & Willis, 2004) it can be
considered a philosophy and methodology. Unlike other traditions and quantitative
paradigms it lacks a fixed and clear set of prescribed methods for conducting research,
hence warranting attention and consideration for the purposes of this study.
Husserl’s Descriptive Phenomenology
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) (Laverty, 2003) is considered to be the founder of
phenomenology (Crotty, 1998). Husserl developed a descriptive phenomenological
approach to address his dissatisfaction of science’s attempt to apply natural sciences to
human issues (Laverty, 2003). To remedy his dissatisfaction Husserl suggested
experience could be used as a valuable object of scientific study, obtained through
human consciousness (Lopez & Willis, 2004). He believed a scientific approach with
this philosophy could be used to identify the “essential components of the lived
experiences specific to a group of people” (Lopez & Willis, 2004, p. 727). This
scientific approach would aim to reach true meaning by probing further and further into
reality (Laverty, 2003). What he felt would result was a fuller grasp of what it means to
be an individual who has experienced a particular phenomenon (Van Manen, 1997).
Husserl’s descriptive phenomenological approach consisted of key assumptions that
informed the investigation of lived experience. The first of these assumptions was that
“there are features to any lived experience that are common to all persons who have the
experience” (Lopez & Willis, 2004, p. 728). These features common to different
instances of the same phenomena were called essences. For lived experience to be
described as a science there must be commonalities so a united description can result
(Lopez & Willis, 2004) from the experience being investigated. Once these essence(s)
have been reached, a reality is constructed that can be “considered objective and
independent of history and context” (Lopez & Willis, 2004, p. 728). In order to gain an
unbiased account of the common essence(s) derived from lived experience, Husserl
believed that all prior personal knowledge must be shed (Lopez & Willis, 2004), which
20
was a second assumption of his. This process involves suspending one’s judgements or
beliefs to see things ‘as they are’ (Laverty, 2003).
Heidegger’s Interpretative (Hermeneutic) Phenomenology
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) (Laverty, 2003), a student of Husserl, modified
phenomenology by adding an interpretative (hermeneutic) element. This interpretative
element, as the name suggests, goes beyond mere description of lived experience to
interpreting the hidden or underlying meaning behind the descriptions. “These meanings
are not always apparent to the participants but can be gleaned from the narratives
produced by them” (Lopez & Willis, 2004, p. 728). For Heidegger the meaning of lived
experience had a dual focus whereby experiences could be taken at face value (visible
meaning) or they could be deceptive (hidden meaning) (Smith et al., 2009).
Hidden and visible meaning, although different from one another, should not be
considered separate or mutually exclusive in all instances, as hidden meaning can be
both a part of and a part from visible meaning (Smith et al., 2009). Meaning is also not
just arrived at by the interpretation of the researcher, but rather by a process of coconstruction (Laverty, 2003). This process involves both the researcher and participant
contributing their thoughts to the study of interest (Lopez & Willis, 2004). One must
also take note that “There is no one true meaning produced by any interpretive study,
but the meanings that are stated in the research findings must be logical and plausible
within the study framework” (Lopez & Willis, 2004, p. 730).
Unlike Husserl whose descriptive phenomenological approach insisted on the use of
bracketing to eliminate bias when describing phenomena, Heidegger rejected a ‘presuppositionless’ phenomenology on the grounds that anyone interpreting a phenomena
presented cannot rid themselves of their prior experiences (Smith et al., 2009) and
expert knowledge (Lopez & Willis, 2004). Moreover these experiences and knowledge
should, and can rather play a valuable role in determining what sort of research inquiry
should be undertaken to generate meaningful knowledge (Lopez & Willis, 2004).
As I myself am religious, identifying as a Roman Catholic and more broadly a
Christian, I know from experience that having the chance to express one’s self in a safe
environment about being religious in a tertiary setting does not come along as often as it
should. With this in mind and the criticisms of total bracketing not being possible, I
used my prior experience to connect with and obtain rich descriptions of the lived
21
experience of the participants, along with a consideration of previous research to choose
a qualitative research design that would give tertiary students a voice. Having a deep
understanding of Christianity meant I could spend more time probing further and further
into the students’ experiences (with the exception of the non-Christian students’
experiences), so I did not have to spend long periods of time questioning them about
basic Christian tenets.
Methodology: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a relatively new approach to
qualitative inquiry which originated in the field of psychology, but has increasingly
been used in human, social and health sciences (Smith et al., 2009). This approach is
grounded in exploring and understanding lived experience. According to Dilthey
(1976):
Whatever presents itself as a unit in the flow of time because it has a
unitary meaning, is the smallest unit which can be called an experience.
Any more comprehensive unit which is made up of parts of a life, linked
by a common meaning, is also called an experience, even when the parts
are separated by interrupting events (Dilthey, 1976 cited in Smith,
Flowers, & Larkin, 2009, p. 210).
It is these ‘comprehensive’ units that are most often the interest of an IPA (Smith et al.,
2009).
When an individual engages with an experience they have had they are able to reflect on
what it means (Smith et al., 2009). The data of this study are the reflections of the
students’ on their lived experiences. My challenge as the researcher was to understand
what the individuals’ reflections meant (Smith et al., 2009). In IPA this is called a
‘double hermeneutic’ because “the researcher is trying to make sense of the participant
trying to make sense” (Smith et al., 2009, p. 3) of what they experienced, where
multiple interpretations are possible.
In IPA the researcher combines empathic hermeneutics with questioning hermeneutics
(Smith & Osborn, 2010). This element of IPA involves the researcher not only taking
the side of the participant about what their experience was like, but also questioning the
participant about things they may be less aware of (Smith & Osborn, 2010). The
22
justification behind this element of IPA is two-fold in that it allows a richer more
comprehensive analysis of participants’ experiences (Smith & Osborn, 2010) without a
blind submission to their subjective perspective and a recognition that meaning can be
constructed not only personally, but socially as well (Smith & Osborn, 2010). In
recognition of the importance of empathic and questioning hermeneutics in IPA, both
types of questioning were used regularly throughout the interviewing and data analysis
stages of this study.
Rationale for Research Methodology
When selecting an appropriate methodology to employ in a research study it is
important to consider the views of earlier researchers. Good and Willoughby (2007)
highlight that previous studies focusing on young people and religion “have largely
failed to access actual voices of young people” (p. 391) and the literature review shows
that many have used quantitative designs. A decision was made to use a qualitative
paradigm and phenomenological methodology because this would allow for the
exploration of what being religious involves, its importance and what it means to
students. This data collection method would also privilege and provide students with an
opportunity to have a voice and share their experiences.
The qualitative research design chosen met the objectives and research questions of this
study that required an inquisitive and exploratory approach. Johnson and Christensen
(2012) stated: “Qualitative research is used when little is known about a topic or
phenomenon and when one wants to discover or learn more about it. It is commonly
used to understand people’s experiences and to express their perspectives” (p.33). An
interpretative phenomenological methodology was chosen to best access the meanings
of the lived experience of being religious within the sample population. By employing
an interpretative phenomenological approach this research study had the aim of not only
describing the lived experience of the religious students, but also interpreting the
meaning of their experience. In order to gain such data for interpretation qualitative
research can employ a range of data collection and analysis methods.
23
Data Collection and Analysis Methods
Participant inclusion criteria.
The aim of recruitment in this study was to select participants who had lived experience
of being religious, who were currently enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington.
Participants needed to be able to articulate clearly and be willing to talk about their
experience and were “diverse enough from one another to enhance possibilities of rich
and unique stories” (Laverty, 2003). The emphasis of diversity in this study focused on
the participants’ experiences, although there was a strong representation of various
religious traditions in the study sample. Demographic factors such as age and sex were
considered to ensure the sample was not uniform.
Phenomenological studies tend to have relatively small sample sizes of between 10 and
15 participants (B. Johnson & Christensen, 2012). Participants were recruited (n=10),
to take part in this study. Participants in the emerging adult stage of 17-25 years were
recruited, with a purposive sampling method (B. Johnson & Christensen, 2012) which
ensured an equal mix of five males and five females. Participants took part in the study
on a voluntary basis and could identify with any religious tradition, which assisted with
gaining a diverse sample and a range of experiences of being religious. Each of the
participants were enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington ], making the sample a
convenient sample. No discrimination was made against potential participants regarding
what each participant had previously or was presently studying.
Recruitment strategy.
Five strategies were used for advertising and recruiting in this study:
1. Hard-copy fliers were posted extensively throughout Victoria University of
Wellington campuses on student notice boards and in public walkways (See
Appendix A for a copy of the flier).
2. Each of the key contact people for the religious groups represented at Victoria
University of Wellington as listed in the clubs directory were contacted by
phone and were informed about the study.
24
3. A flier and description of the study was emailed to lecturers in both the
education and religious studies departments of Victoria University of
Wellington, whereby several lecturers posted a notice about my study on
Blackboard, the online communication forum between students and lecturers.
4. One Christian religious group was spoken to in person at their weekly gathering.
5. My supervisor advertised my study verbally in various classes he taught.
Multiple recruitment strategies were therefore used, which is appropriate when
accessing a minority population sample (Caserta, Utz, Lund, & De Vries, 2010).
Method of data collection.
When conducting a study using interpretive phenomenology a number of methods can
be used, including personal accounts and diaries (Smith & Osborn, 2010). Arguably the
best and most popular method for ensuring reliability, however is the semi-structured
interview (Smith & Osborn, 2010) which “attempts to understand themes of the lived
everyday world from the subjects’ own perspectives” (Kvale, 2009, p. 27) through the
descriptions they give. This form of interviewing is conversational in style and is guided
by an initial template of questions that can be adapted and changed as interviews
progress. The common advantages associated with conducting semi-structured
interviews as opposed to structured interviews are: “facilitates rapport/empathy, allows
a greater flexibility of coverage and allows the interview to go into novel areas, and it
tends to produce rich data” (Smith & Osborn, 2010, p. 59).
The data collection method for this study was open-ended semi-structured individual
interviews, which is the traditional collection strategy for qualitative research (Lopez &
Willis, 2004) and the most regularly employed method of data collection when
conducting phenomenological research (Bevan, 2014). The data I collected was
transcribed by a transcriber who signed a confidentiality form, before the data was
subsequently analysed (Kvale, 2009) (See Appendix B for a copy of the transcriber
confidentiality form).
Interview process.
Before and during the interviews I built a rapport with each of the participants (HesseBiber & Leavy, 2006 ). Building rapport has the purpose of helping the participant feel
“safe, comfortable, and as though what they are saying is valued” (Hesse-Biber &
25
Leavy, 2006 p. 128). In addition, rapport-building acts as a quality assurance method.
Pitts and Miller-Day (2007) highlight that establishing a relationship with study
participants is a necessary requirement to ensure validity or trustworthiness in
naturalistic enquiry. One way this occurred in the present study was through
empowering and encouraging the students to speak about their own lived experience
(rather than what they think I might have wanted to hear as a researcher). This measure
was designed to ensure high quality data that reflected the students’ experiences.
Before the interviews I met with the students to explain the aims of the study and what
the interview would entail. The students were fully informed about what their
participation would involve; taking part in an interview that would last approximately 12 hours, with a possible follow-up interview (See Appendix C for a copy of the study
information sheets). The students were also given an opportunity to ask any questions
they had about the study. The participants were provided with a guide to the type of
questions that would be asked in the interview and were free to have those questions in
front of them during their interview. The guide was given to them prior to their
interview so they could think of specific life events and experiences of being religious,
and begin to think about what aspects of their life worlds they wished to share.
Providing the participants with an interview guide acted as a quality assurance measure
that strengthened data collection as it meant the students had a visual (the interview
guide) and an oral guide (myself as the researcher) to ensure what they shared was
relevant to the study objectives.
At the beginning of each interview I read off a pre-written script (Jacob & Furgerson,
2012). This script ensured consistency between interviews and that important
information that needed to be shared with each participant was not forgotten. The script
included a statement of the study title, the purpose of the interview, a self-disclosure of
my religious identity and a reminder that the interview was about the participants’ and
their experiences. The early stages of each interview began with the participants being
asked a general open-ended question inviting them to share some background
information about themselves such as their age, where they are from and what they
study. This first question, which was asked conversationally, had the role of easing the
participants into the interview and laid the foundation for more complex questions that
would follow.
26
Throughout the interview prompts were used to encourage the participants to reflect on
their experiences as part of the interpretative and meaning-making process or to give
more detail about their lived experience. I also gave attention to any significant nonverbal cues as a way of adding to the understanding and expression of the participants’
experiences beyond what was captured in the tape recordings (Tan, Wilson, & Olver,
2009). No non-verbal cues were recorded that added to the meaning of the students’
experiences.
The final stages of the interview followed a script of questions to ensure that the
participants knew that the interview was coming to an end. Each participant was invited
to share anything else they wanted to about their experience. I also asked the
participants if they were willing to be contacted with follow-up questions and told the
participants that I could be contacted if they had forgotten or would like to add details to
their descriptions (See Appendix D for a copy of the interview guide).
The responses of the participants were recorded using a digital recorder at Victoria
University of Wellington. The interviews lasted 40-80 minutes. It was judged that
follow-up interviews were not necessary after consultation with my supervisor, because
the descriptions from the participants were already detailed and rich enough for
analysis. Moreover, none of the students requested a follow-up interview after they had
been provided with a summary of their interview. After each interview the participants
were given the opportunity to express any concerns and to generally give feedback
about the interview.
Data analysis method.
When a researcher is analysing data in a phenomenological study, they are unable to
entirely recreate the event where they collected the data (Tan et al., 2009). Instead the
researcher is left with only an impression of the language of the interview (Tan et al.,
2009) and the participants’ narrative of events and their experience. With this degree of
separation from the original interview I had the challenge of analysing what had been
expressed. With this in mind, the data analysis method used in this study was IPA
(Smith & Osborn, 2010).
To analyse the spoken word of the students’ subjective experiences of religion (Lopez
& Willis, 2004) IPA (Smith & Osborn, 2010) was used. Whilst IPA follows a general
lineal pattern, the process of analysing lived experience in this study was iterative. In
27
the first instance of conducting my analysis the students’ transcripts were checked for
accuracy by listening to the audio recordings and comparing them to the transcriptions
(Polit & Beck, 2008). Checking the transcripts added to the methodological rigour of
the study by ensuring that the exact spoken words of the students were analysed rather
than inaccurately transcribed words. As a result all errors were corrected, and in
instances where both the transcriber and I were unsure what the student had expressed,
the student was approached and gave the necessary corrections and/or clarification that
was required. This occurred on one occasion where a student used language from his
own religious tradition that was not common to New Zealand English.
Van Manen (2014) details an orderly and effective method for exploring texts in the
pursuit of thematic meanings that laid the foundation for the construction of themes in
this study. In the first instance I completed a holistic reading of each of the students’
interview transcripts. During this first ‘naive’ reading initial observations of analytical
importance were briefly noted (Braun & Clarke, 2006). After reading the transcripts and
noting any initial analytical observations the transcripts were read again for a second
time with a focus on the research questions and identifying emerging themes across
interviews. Each of the significant statements in the transcripts were coded so they were
relevant to the research question, for example one code was “being marginalised”. This
code highlighted that for one student part of their experience of being religious involved
marginalisation.
Once each significant statement from the students’ transcripts were coded, codes that
were alike were categorised together that captured similar experiences such as being
criticised or stigmatised. This was a meticulous process where I needed to have an
open-mind about what the students had experienced beyond what they said. This
process of analysis involved analysing the literal meaning of what was spoken and
transcribed in the pursuit of constructing thematic meanings, as well as ‘reading
between the lines’ to search for hidden meanings (Koch, 1999). Braun and Clarke
(2006) point out that this process is therefore characterised by themes being constructed
from the research data rather than being ‘found’.
28
After coding was complete I conducted a structural analysis of the codes across the data
set whereby similar codes from each student were grouped together. During this stage I
sought to “understand the content and complexity of those meanings rather than
measure their frequency” (Smith & Osborn, 2010, p. 66) and get to the essence of the
lived experience of being a religious university student.
The codes which were based upon significant statements were then formulated into
sub-themes which captured “something important about the data in relation to the
research question, and represents some level of patterned response or meaning within
the data set” (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 82). The codes that made up each sub-theme
were then checked against each other to ensure consistency. Each set of sub-themes
were then grouped together under a super-theme (also known as a superordinate theme)
(Smith & Osborn, 2010) that was titled to accurately reflect the codes it represented.
By using IPA I was able to privilege the voices and words of the participants and their
own religious experience, which is something that has been lacking in empirical
literature (Good & Willoughby, 2007). This was achieved by drawing on the lived
experiences of the students and using the words they used to describe their experiences.
Most importantly I completed a rigorous process of analysing the students’ experiences
to construct the meaning of those experiences.
Reliability/Integrity and Trustworthiness
Various strategies were used to promote trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) in this
study. Reflexivity, was used to promote credibility through the use of a reflective diary
to ensure that any religious predispositions or biases I may have had would not affect
my research. This occurred in place of bracketing pre-understandings of the topic,
because it is not possible when using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach (Koch,
1995). Regular meetings with my supervisor also ensured my study remained credible
by ensuring that my own religious preconceptions were not imposed on the actual lived
realities of the students (Malterud, 2001).
I kept an audit-trail to document various decisions made in my study especially around
the construction of themes. For example one audit trail entry included renaming my
super-theme “being religious is worthwhile” to “being religious is constructive”.
Renaming this super-theme recognised that whilst being religious was worthwhile for
the students by giving them benefits, it did more for them, in actually contributing to
29
their development, meaning, purpose and ‘being’ as young people. Such a strategy
ensured that my decision-making remained consistent and did not negate prior decisions
that were made.
Member checking was used to ensure that the experiences of the participants were
translated into data accurately (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This involved giving the
participants the opportunity to check the accuracy of a summary of the findings of their
interview (Krefting, 1991), which increased the credibility of my findings (B. Johnson
& Christensen, 2012) by making the experiences of the students recognisable to them in
the study’s findings (Krefting, 1991).
When the participants were emailed a document outlining the key themes that I
formulated from their interview, each of the sub-themes was substantiated with direct
quotes from their own interview transcript. The participants were encouraged to confirm
or challenge what had been formulated to ensure what they had said was accurately
represented. The participants were also asked whether they agreed with, or could think
of a better word or words for the sub-theme names that I formulated. Of the nine
students who gave feedback about their summary, three of the students made comments
that challenged or clarified the interpretation of what was sent to them. For example,
two of the students reinforced points that were important to their experience that were
not explicitly presented in their document. One student was not sure that saying religion
“involves” certain things necessarily fairly represented the fluidity of his experience, for
example in his university classes compared to other contexts. No recommendations for
more appropriate theme names were suggested.
Whilst it is impossible for the findings of this study to be universally transferable, a
level of transferability was achieved through providing the relevant background
information of the study and a thorough account of the students’ characteristics (See
Table B for a table of the students’ characteristics), the methods that were used and the
study’s findings (Malterud, 2001). Future researchers have a clear guide about what
degree of transferability the present study would have for them in shedding light on
their own research questions (Malterud, 2001) and findings.
30
Finally, the use of low-inference descriptors, which are in the form of verbatim quotes
from the students, are used extensively throughout my findings chapter. By citing these
quotes the reader is able to understand the students’ experiences from interpretations of
their own words rather than any other more indirect source (B. Johnson & Christensen,
2012).
Ethical Considerations
According to Johnson and Christensen (2012) the “treatment of research participants is
the most important and fundamental issue that researchers confront” (p103). It is this
ethical principle that guided the ethical decisions faced in this research study to ensure
the students were protected from mental and physical harm (B. Johnson & Christensen,
2012). An ethics application to conduct my study was submitted to and approved by the
Victoria University Human Ethics Committee (See Appendix E for a copy of the ethics
approval form).
Informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality.
The participants were required to give active and ongoing informed consent after they
were fully informed about the study (Johnson & Christensen, 2012). In the first instance
participants were required to sign a consent form (See Appendix F for a copy of the
consent form) to acknowledge their willingness and commitment to take part. At this
time the participants were also informed that they were free to withdraw from the study
without question or penalty at any time. All of the students were, however, retained for
the whole study.
Confidentiality of the students’ names and the information they gave was maintained,
with only myself as the researcher, my supervisor and the interview transcriber having
access to the students’ first names and the information they gave, as outlined in the
ethics consent form and information sheets. Anonymity of the students’ identities was
maintained throughout this research study with the students being giving pseudonyms.
In addition I ensured that any identifying details, names, places or references to other
people (university staff, peers, family) who should not be identified, were also removed.
31
Protection of students and the reputation of the university from risk or
harm.
A disclosure process was developed prior to the study and as part of the ethics
application process. Participants were informed prior to interviews that if they shared
information that revealed they or someone else was at risk, or that they had experienced
trauma, religious persecution or serious discrimination that this would be discussed with
them. The relevant information would be shared with my supervisor and an appropriate
course of action implemented to ensure the student’s safety and wellbeing (referral to
student services, provision of information about student rights). No such information
was shared by any of the students so no action based on the disclosure process was
necessary.
To ensure the reputation of Victoria University of Wellington was protected and
integrity upheld, all of the ethical principles and procedures as outlined and advised by
the University Human Ethics Committee were followed once ethics approval was
submitted and granted. This helped ensure that the study was thoughtfully planned,
conducted and supervised.
Summary
This chapter outlined the objectives for this study to understand the subjective lived
experiences of religion in emerging adults (17-25 year-olds) within a New Zealand
tertiary education setting. In addition it detailed the research design, including the
epistemology (constructionism), theoretical perspective (interpretative phenomenology),
methodology (IPA), data collection methods (open-ended semi-structured interviews)
and data analysis method (IPA) used in this study. A rationale and description of
interpretative phenomenology and IPA was provided.
The chapter discussed the
interview process that took place with each of the students where they were invited to
share their experiences of being religious. The measures to ensure the reliability and
trustworthiness of my research processes and findings were presented and an account of
the ethical considerations for this study were listed and detailed. The following chapter
outlines the key findings and analysis of the findings of the study.
32
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
Introduction
The previous chapter included a detailed discussion of the methodology and methods
used in this study. Conducting open-ended and semi-structured interviews generated a
detailed and in depth account of the students’ experiences of being religious. This
chapter presents the findings from analysing the students’ interview transcripts to detail
their experiences. These findings should be valued for their depth and richness as
opposed to their generalizability.
The findings are presented thematically with four super-themes appearing that each
have multiple sub-themes. All of the themes are supported and substantiated with
verbatim extracts from the students’ transcripts to support their inclusion. In
hermeneutic phenomenology many interpretations of individuals’ lived experiences are
possible. With this in mind the interpretation of the researcher can and should be viewed
as one of many possible interpretations.
The themes presented are not an exhaustive representation of all of the themes that
emerged after the students’ transcripts were analysed. The themes attempt to reveal
underlying and hidden meanings and are those that best represent the students’
experiences of what it means to be religious in a tertiary education setting.
Each story that was told was unique from one another and played a role in forming an
understanding of what it means to be a religious student. With all of the students
considering themselves religious and coming from a diversity of religious backgrounds
there are both similarities and differences in what they shared.
Findings
A detailed IPA of the students’ interview transcripts led to the development of a single
overarching meaning or essence of what it means to be a religious student: engaging
with the sacred. Engaging with the sacred was what the students did when being
religious and studying. This overarching meaning developed from the analysis of the
first interview that was conducted that indicated that being religious required active
engagement and was a common aspect of the experience across all the participants. This
33
meaning has parallels with the definition that Pargament (2001) gives to religion: “a
search for significance in ways related to the sacred” (p. 32). This definition highlights
the activity involved in being religious through it involving a search, and the object of
one’s search, the sacred: things, places and persons that are “Set apart for or dedicated
to some religious purpose, and hence entitled to veneration or religious respect” (Oxford
English Dictionary, 2013).
Pargament, Maygar-Russell and Murray-Swank (2005) provide a list of what the sacred
can include:
material objects (crucifix, drugs), time and space (the Sabbath,
churches, mosques), events and transitions (birth, coming of age,
death), cultural products (literature, music), people (saints, monks,
cult leaders), psychological attributes (meaning, self-actualization),
social attributes (caste, patriotism), and roles (marriage, parenting,
work) (p. 668).
Although there is much variation across religious traditions, Pargament and Mahoney
(2005) highlight that they are united in their concern for things sacred. This concern is
given an active function through individuals’ efforts to not only find significance, but to
also conserve it and transform it as they see appropriate (Pargament, 1999).
Engaging with the sacred has a dual focus where religious people are on a pathway, but
at the same time seek a destination (Pargament, 1999). On this pathway religious people
take part in prayer, rituals and other religious activities in the pursuit of what they
believe is to come for them if they follow their religious tradition earnestly, for example
reincarnation or resurrection. The overarching meaning of engaging with the sacred
encompasses all experiences of being religious whether they are good or bad, individual
or collective (Pargament, 1999).
For the students in this study engaging with the sacred involved: 1) having a
relationship with God, of which some of the students specified who ‘God’ was for
them; namely Allah for Asha, Bhagwan Swaminarayan for Vijay and Jehovah for
Clarissa. It should be noted that throughout this chapter that ‘God’ is used as an allencompassing term for the deity each student worshipped 2) being different to secular
peers 3)being inter/intrapersonally challenged 4) having a constructive influence in
one’s life.
34
Table A: Essential themes of the students’ religious experiences
Overall meaning of being a religious student: Engaging with the sacred
SUPERTHEME
SUBTHEME
Having a
relationship with
God
Being different to
secular peers
Involved inter/
intrapersonal
challenges
Being religious is
constructive
Participating in
private and social
rituals
Having different
beliefs, values
and philosophies
Having
faith/religion
dismissed
Praying is
therapeutic
The relationship
requires personal
commitment
Feeling confused
resolving conflict
of being
stigmatised/stereo
typed
Not being
understood
Being religious is
valuable
Living life
according to
values
Having a ‘real’
and respectful
relationship with
a powerful friend
Difference as
something
positive
Criticism and
intolerance
Religion provides
support
Negative
stereotypes
Religion helps
defines your
purpose and
identity
Religion has
benefits after
death
Being
marginalised
Intrapersonal
challenges
Super-Theme 1: Having a Relationship with God
The first super-theme was having a relationship with God. This defined a key part of
the students’ religious experience whereby the students had and strove to maintain a
connection and commitment to God. Having a relationship with God involved
participating in both personal/private and social rituals. For many students’ their
relationship with God was important and their actions of prayer and other forms of
engagement reflected this reality depending on how they perceived their relationship.
For other students their relationship was about adhering to religious teachings and
principles. Despite at times there being overlap across the students’ accounts, there were
also unique aspects of their relationships with God. Each example below substantiates
what having a relationship with God involved and meant for the students.
35
Participating in private and social rituals.
Taking part in special private and social rituals and practices enabled the students to
encounter God and strengthen their relationship. These rituals and practices can be
described as rituals or customs that are important or inherent to the students in their
various religious traditions. For all of the students carrying out these rituals or customs
was a regular occurrence and an important part of maintaining a relationship with God.
Joan’s relationship with God involved a weekly ritual of attending Mass and receiving
the Eucharist (the Body and Blood of Christ): “if you’re going to actually be consuming
the Body and Blood of Christ every weekend...that’s going to help a lot with your
relationship with Jesus because you’re going to meet with him every Sunday”. During
these encounters she felt a strong connection to God. Joan also valued her relationship
with God: “focusing on the relationship with Jesus which is important”. She saw the
rituals built into her Catholic faith as supporting the development and maintenance of
that important, intimate and personal relationship: “everything that is built around the
Catholic Church is supposed to support you in having that relationship”. Joan’s
partaking of the Eucharist helped make her relationship with God real and intimate,
through actually meeting Christ in this personal encounter as part of her religious
community.
Gregory’s relationship with God involved “trying to take some time out...to pray or just
read the Bible or...spend some time with God and...communicate with Him”. Mary’s
experience was similar to Gregory’s, because she also used prayer to communicate with
God: “praying is just like talking with Jesus”. Clarissa also described the role of prayer
in her relationship: “in relationship with God...I say a prayer…and...you can ask for
specific things and sometimes they turn up and prayer is really important”.
For
Gregory, Mary and Clarissa prayer provided the necessary means of communicating
with and connecting to God.
For other students like Dave, prayer was also an important ritual and custom, which
could be personal but also shared in a social context. For Dave both praying and
discussing scriptures with other Christians were important ways of maintaining a
relationship with God. Dave explained that for him the rituals involved both contact
with God and others: “pray, that’s the way we contact God” and: “meeting with a few
people, a few other Christians, and enjoying a little bit of the Bible”. For Dave prayer
could occur in a variety of ways and places, making his means of maintaining a
36
relationship with God versatile and transportable. Dave’s relationship with God was
accessible and made participation in rituals and customs less bounded compared to
those students who followed customs, rituals, traditions and practices which were
bounded to specific physical and spiritual locations and times.
Henry, like Dave discussed the fluid nature of prayer and emphasised that: “Prayer can
be both an individual and a group thing”. For Henry prayer was about “communicating
directly with God” in an individual setting, like in the way he journaled to God every
night. But it was also something that could occur in a group setting, like when he
attends Mass. These times of prayer for Henry confirmed: “He’s (God)…a part of your
life and that He’s looking after you”. Prayer for Henry was what reinforced the bond
between him and God.
Like Dave and Henry, prayer also helped Vijay maintain his relationship with God. One
example of this from Vijay’s experience was doing a private morning prayer ritual
called a “puja” which he described as “a personal communication with God”. During
this communication Vijay took time to express his “feelings...and...concerns”. Such
prayer time for Vijay involved talking to God, which for him was like talking to
someone next to him. Like Henry and Clarissa, Vijay also admitted that he does not
always get answers from God when he questions him about things. Despite this reality
Vijay said that he can “feel that presence” which convinces him that he does have a
relationship with God, and that prayer is the ritual and catalyst for feeling that presence.
Prayer was also important for Asha, but she did not specifically state that she had a
relationship with God, whom she called “Allah”. Her relationship was implied because
she spoke of the fundamental importance of praying five times a day and being “in
remembrance of God” every time she prayed, which she said involved “speaking to
Him”. Prayer had the role of strengthening Asha’s iman, which roughly translates from
Arabic to English as faith. Prayer was the medium for communicating with God which
gave Asha faith and a relationship with God.
It was difficult to determine how the rituals Sebastian took part in influenced or
contributed to his relationship with God because Sebastian said “I don’t really know if I
have much of a relationship with God” and that he felt his relationship was
“uncertain”. Rituals that Sebastian took part in included “grace and prayer...pray at
least once a day but often around three times a day and...grace before lunch and
dinner”.
37
For Rachel, participating in private and social rituals was not key for having a
relationship with God which made her an exception to the rest of the students in the
sample. One of the reasons given for this was that she had not found “a particular
format that gels”. This may have been why she described her relationship with God as
“Casual, distant? Guarded”.
While some students such as Joan, Sebastian and Henry emphasised the importance of
personal/private and social rituals for providing a means to develop and sustain a
personal relationship with God, for others like Dave, the rituals were less important than
the relationship itself. For Dave being a Christian was about the personal experiences
that he had in his relationship with God: “as opposed to...traditions dictating what…
religion is about”. Dave’s emphasis was not on Sunday church attendance and said that
despite the Bible giving more depth to your relationship: “you can definitely have a
relationship with God without reading the Bible”. Dave’s emphasis was on “enjoying
God” and knowing that: “He’s someone that you can actually talk to”.
The relationship required personal commitment.
Having a relationship with God was important and required the students to be actively
committed. Students such as Clarissa who is a Jehovah’s Witness shared: “it’s all about
you and your relationship with God” and “my relationship with Jehovah’s very
important”. Students reflected on their commitment and level of participation in
religious activities which helped to gauge their commitment. Clarissa had a personal
commitment to “praising God” through “door knocking, attending all...her...
meetings...and...saying prayers”. All of these elements of praise in commitment to God
were part of Clarissa’s engagement as a religious young person.
Joan defined her commitment to her relationship as: “consciously and willingly
participating in church life”. She went on to share some examples of her personal
commitment: “I adhere to the social teachings (of the Catholic Church)…and…now
and then I go to retreats or Catholic events”. Joan compared herself to her sister to
highlight her level of commitment and said that her sister: “doesn’t regularly attend
church” and “doesn’t search more about God”. Joan’s commitment was demonstrated
by her active involvement in church life.
Henry, the only other Catholic in the study, also spoke about commitment to his
relationship with God and the Eucharist: “I’m strongly committed to having a
38
relationship with Jesus and to receiving the Body and Blood at Mass regularly”. Like
Joan, he placed a great deal of importance on this ritual. He suggested that the ritual
made his relationship not only more personal or intimate, but meaningful. Receiving the
Eucharist for Henry was a reminder of God’s love: “it’s just like a healing thing and it’s
just so...meaningful that God will let us consume Him...because He loves us so much”.
Being active and having a strong relationship with God also meant that the students
needed to dedicate regular time and energy to that relationship and personal investment.
Gregory said: “for me being a Christian is about my relationship with God and it’s an
active relationship”. An example of being active that he shared was: “when you
have...a relationship with a friend or you know anyone in your life...you’re engaged
with that person on either a day to day or even a weekly basis”. For Gregory this meant
praying, reading the Bible and communicating with God on a daily/weekly basis but
also engaging with others who found these activities important: “It’s not a passive
thing, so it’s about getting actively involved...with what I do”. What laid the foundation
for this commitment shown by Gregory was when he got baptised which in his words
was: “a public reaffirming of your faith and saying...that...I do want to...have a
relationship with God”. Personal commitment for Gregory had a symbolic and
sacramental manifestation. Being baptised symbolised that he had put “his hand up to
be a Christian” in a formalised sacrament as part of his Christian tradition.
Vijay’s commitment to his relationship with God can also be seen from the
aforementioned “puja” he took part in where he had to “wake up earlier
than...he...would wake up if...he...hadn’t been doing...it”. Vijay’s experience highlighted
a sacrificial element to commitment. For Vijay maintaining a relationship with God
sometimes involved doing things he would not choose to do, such as waking up early in
the morning. His commitment was made easier by the opening of a temple near him
with statues where “God actually does reside” in them. This gave Vijay the opportunity
to enhance his relationship and commitment to God, because with faith, when he looked
at the temple statues he was convinced that “God…was…standing right in front
of...him”. On occasions when Vijay was not as committed and he “may disobey one of
the spiritual orders” he felt his connection with God “weakening”. For Vijay a
relationship with God required personal commitment in the form of prayer and going to
his temple weekly to keep that connection strong.
39
Dave had a strong personal commitment to his relationship with God because in his
experience it was his relationship with God that made his faith “real”. Dave also added
that for him a “relationship, personal relationship” was what summed up his
experience of being religious. The key part of this personal commitment was focusing
on “enjoying God” which came through strongly when he said: “at the end of the
day...it is a personal experience...and as long as I am enjoying God personally...that
keeps me going”. Dave’s experience highlighted that despite the commitment a
relationship with God entails, it is sustainable through it being enjoyable.
While Rachel did not show commitment to her religion by going to church on a regular
basis or participating in other private and social rituals, she did describe herself as
religious and demonstrated her commitment to her “Casual, distant? Guarded”
relationship in other ways. For example, she said: “I definitely stand up for myself about
it (Christianity) if someone queried it. And I definitely call people on it if people start
making...noticeably anti-Christian comments in my presence”. This commitment
stemmed from the fact that Rachel did not “feel comfortable denying the fact that...she
was...religious”. Rachel’s commitment to being religious was unique in the way she
highlighted that having a commitment to one’s religion does not necessarily solely rely
on participation in rituals, but can also involve defending one’s religion when it is
attacked.
Mary’s personal commitment to her relationship with God did not have a foundation of
baptism like Gregory, so no sacramental commitment was present for her. Mary’s
personal commitment was characterised by her continued striving to be more
committed, because her experience was that she was “slowly figuring out what it means
to be a Christian and to be a religious person” and with her own self-reflection
conceded: “I think I’m just young, and I don’t have my priorities straight”.
For the remaining two participants, Sebastian and Asha, it was difficult to determine
whether their relationship with God required personal commitment. As mentioned in the
previous sub-theme Sebastian felt he had an “uncertain” relationship with God. Despite
this he could probably be described as being committed through his commitment to
praying and saying grace before meals as mentioned earlier. Asha’s reality was similar
to Sebastian because she demonstrated her commitment by praying five times a day.
She did however highlight the difference between herself and her Muslim peers who she
said grew up with who were “not as faithful” as her. This suggested she may have been
40
more committed to practising Islam than her peers. Whilst Sebastian and Asha’s
commitment was not as explicit as the other students, it was still present.
Living life according to values.
Being religious, engaging with the sacred and having a relationship with God also
meant ‘walking the talk’ or practising the principles taught in their religion. Sebastian’s
relationship with God needed to be reflected in his philosophy and actions towards
others where being a Christian gave Sebastian a guide of how he should act when it
came to treating other people:
Treat your neighbour as yourself…has been my kind of core
philosophy that I try to live by and it’s not just like being kinder to
others...it also means being kind to yourself…so…that you treat others
how you treat yourself, so you don’t give away everything because
then you’re valuing others more than you value yourself.
For Henry being religious and having a relationship with God meant acting according to
models and not being afraid to act according to Catholic principles on campus: “I try to
act as a person who follows Jesus” and: “on campus...it’s just how I act”. Being a
Catholic, Henry had Jesus as a model to follow and guide him regarding what actions
were appropriate to live a wholesome life.
Gregory’s relationship with God meant living according to values centred on Christ: “I
think the main thing for me is just to live a life that is Christ-like”. When asked what
this involved Gregory said that it included “showing humility and showing respect and
love for those around you and also being involved in the world and not just kind of
separating yourself”. Avoiding this separation meant Gregory did not consider himself
as better or above other, especially non-Christian people. By Gregory not separating
himself from the world he described his faith as progressive: “I drink...go to parties that
sort of thing”. This was Gregory’s way of saying that there are things in the world that
Christianity may not endorse that should not be ignored, as other Christians may ignore
or condemn. His feeling was that Christians should understand what goes on in the
world as a way of trying to imitate how Jesus lived his life in reaching out to people.
Gregory used a biblical example to justify his commitment to his value system: “it’s
better to understand...these people because you know Jesus had lunch at tax collectors
houses which back in the day you couldn’t do that”. By Gregory living the value of not
41
separating himself from the world he was able to imitate Christ which strengthened his
relationship with God
Clarissa held a similar value to Gregory where from her experience she did not agree
with separating herself from the world: “we (Jehovah’s Witnesses) are to live in this
world, but not to be a part of it...so we can’t exclude ourselves away in a little sector”.
Living in the world for Clarissa meant upholding the value of being “nice to
everybody”, but if they were not associated to her religion she would “limit...her...time
with them”. Although at times Clarissa did not agree with some things that were
happening in the world and views that people had, she upheld her commitment to being
a Jehovah’s Witness by being integrated into society.
For Mary being religious also meant trying to live according to the principles of her
religion. These principles were an ideal that people could aim for: “Being religious is
genuinely striving to be more Christ-like. I think Christ embodies all the important
aspects of being religious, like being loving, being faithful and being hopeful”. Like
Henry and Gregory, Mary felt that Christ is the ideal model for being a Christian.
Meanwhile Asha, the Muslim student had a different model to follow. She emphasised
the same commitment to living her life according to a set of values. Her commitment to
a relationship with Allah was shown through her submission to His will and following
the five pillars of Islam. To put it simply she said: “Well basically Islam it means
submission, so submitting to God”. Asha explained that she had a clear guide of values
to live by as presented in the five pillars of Islam: “not backbiting, no gossiping, no
lying, lying’s really bad”.
Vijay was very committed to and disciplined about living out the values and principles
taught in his religion. The principles that Vijay mentioned as part of being committed to
Hinduism included: “Do not steal, don’t eat meat, don’t drink alcohol...and...do not
have a close relationship with women”. For Vijay living these principles was very much
justified because he believed they would enhance his life: “whatever orders or spiritual
commands we’ve got they’re for our good and they give us a better life than if we did
not follow them”.
Dave’s commitment to religion and his relationship with God was not heavily valueladen. The reason for this was because Dave’s relationship with God was “not based on
doctrine...or...teachings...or traditions and practices”. Dave’s emphasis was on
enjoying God. Rachel also did not describe her relationship with God as heavily value42
laden stating she only had one major value/guide: “Forgiveness is all I’ve got to be
honest”, which she conceded: “I’m not very good at that”.
The values that Joan committed herself to were based on the traditional teachings of the
Catholic Church. One of these values that Joan lived by was abstinence. Joan’s
commitment to abstinence took place despite her belief that what she was doing “is not
that common anymore”. Her commitment to abstinence was a sacrifice that acted as a
reminder of her relationship with God.
Having a ‘real’ and respectful relationship with a powerful friend.
Some of the students described the nature and quality of their relationship with God as
being an authentic connection with a friend greater than themselves. The students’
relationship with God was reciprocal in that they showed gratitude and submission to
God, in response to God being a source of life by forgiving and not judging them.
Despite the reciprocity of this relationship the students recognised the power of God
that transcended their own or anyone else’s ability to good in their lives.
Unlike Henry and Joan who saw receiving the Eucharist as a fundamental part of
supporting and strengthening their relationship with God, an important part of being
religious for Dave was recognising the power and sacredness of God and “seeing God
as a source of life”. Acknowledging God as a source of life made Dave’s relationship
with God “real”. Seeing God in this way meant Dave recognised his subservient status
within the relationship and his need to be grateful. Dave described his relationship with
God as a “servant style relationship...you know God has done these things for me and
now it’s up to me to do what He wants me to do. So I try my best to be very submissive
in terms of what He...guides me to do”. Dave recognised what God had done for him,
and despite God giving him free will to do what he wanted to do with his life, he
submitted to the will of God out of gratitude and respect.
Clarissa also saw her relationship with God, whom she calls Jehovah as “definitely a
direct thing” where she could go directly to Jehovah for prayer and guidance, rather
than using intercessors as in other Christian traditions. She shared that Jehovah is
powerful because: “Nobody else can forgive you. Nobody can condemn you, nobody
can do anything”. It was evident that Clarissa’s relationship with Jehovah required an
investment of time and energy, because without Jehovah she could not receive things
that were important to her like forgiveness.
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For other students, having a ‘real’ relationship with God meant having a more casual
and equal relationship where there was less pressure and judgement. For example Mary
described her relationship with God this way:
I think I have more of that brother sister relationship with Him (God)
maybe because I’m… in real life closer to my brothers. But I have like
casual conversations and like I tell him everything with no holds
barred and there are very few people...I feel you can do that with
without feeling the pressure of being judged. And I think
praying…provides a catharsis almost of like say the therapist free of
charge.
Mary in her relationship with God compared it to her mortal relationships with her
brothers. She felt she gained something that transcended many of her other relationships
because she knew that when she talked to God she would not be judged, but rather
healed. While she considered her relationship with God as a friendship, she still felt that
God’s power “controls things you don’t even realise he controls”. Mary’s experience
led her to describe her relationship with God as a friendly relationship: “it’s
enlightening having such a powerful friend”. The power that God possesses made her
relationship with God unique from her other mortal relationships.
For other students having a relationship with a powerful friend meant being more
guarded or distant and having less regular contact. Rachel described her relationship
with God this way: “In a telegram kind of way. You know like I wouldn’t say I have a
particularly fantastic one” and as previously described her relationship with God was
“Casual, distant? Guarded”. Rachel’s experience was that although she prayed
regularly prayer was more important “when things aren’t going well”. The guarded
reality of Rachel’s relationship with God resulted from her unwillingness to completely
trust Him. For her this meant not being too hopeful, for fear of being disappointed.
Rachel felt that she was responsible for her actions, and her prayers may not necessarily
be answered how she would like even if she was to be less casual or distanced toward
and from God.
Vijay like Rachel also felt that God was a powerful friend when things are not going
well: “any time I have some difficulties...I can talk with God”, but also in a general
sense as well: “we believe God to be the all doer, you know nothing happens in this
world without God’s wish”. Asha expressed God’s supremacy by saying: “He’s the
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creator of everything”. Gregory acknowledged the power of God through “the divinity
of Jesus” which gave him a great respect for God who “did sacrifice Himself and…was
resurrected afterwards.
Joan saw herself as having a ‘real’ and respectful relationship with God and compared
herself to other people who she said were part of a “Catholic culture”. Unlike the people
she said only went to Catholic schools and clubs she had “actual true belief” and
“thought about a relationship with Jesus”. For Joan it was her relationship with God
and her faith that set her apart from these people. Her relationship was authentic
because she had great respect and was committed to “believing the teachings of the
church and the teachings of God”.
Henry also valued his relationship with God and had a profound respect for God as seen
in the gratitude he had for the healing and love he experienced from receiving the
Eucharist. Henry recognised the role that God played in caring for him when he said it’s
like “He’s looking after you”. This for Henry showed he had a strong appreciation for
God. Sebastian also spoke about his great appreciation and respect in his relationship
with God. Despite the uncertainty he had about the relationship, he was appreciative and
grateful for the way that God took away any fear he had: “it’s kind of like the opposite
of fear…He’s got my best intentions at heart so He’ll guide me on the right path”.
Super-Theme 2: Being Different to Secular Peers
The second super-theme was being different to secular peers. Being different was a key
part of being religious, with this super-theme manifesting in a variety of ways for the
students. Being different meant the students did not feel the same as their secular peers.
Being religious meant having different views, values and philosophies and feeling
abnormal compared to their secular peers. The students spoke about appearing and
being perceived and treated as different. Difference also included having a different
outward appearance in terms of the way they dressed and presented themselves. For
most of the students being different was something negative. Two students did however
see their difference as something that was positive and could be embraced. Being
religious gave them a different perspective to their peers and helped them be critical of
ideas presented to them at university. Not all of the students were aware of or talked
about themselves as being different.
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Having different beliefs, values and philosophies.
Being different is summed up by Asha’s statement about being religious: “It makes me
unique and different”. Students felt that their experience of being religious
distinguished them from other students and this was due to them having different beliefs
that included which behaviours are morally acceptable and how the world was created.
The students became aware of their unique or different beliefs when attending lectures
at university, because it was in this context they realised: “it…is quite a common
thing… where…your ideas are contradictory to what you’re learning in your lectures
…and what you believe is quite different” (Joan) and “a lot of things…weren’t so much
in line with my faith” (Gregory).
Joan and Gregory both felt their religion made them different because their beliefs were
incompatible and did not align with what they were being taught. Sometimes their
beliefs were not presented, which made them feel like their beliefs were not as valued as
their peers’. Joan suggested a possible reason for this: “the basis of what I make my
decisions on is actually not an accepted way of thinking in some of my classes”.
Clarissa’s views were different to many other people (including other students at
university) because she is a Jehovah’s Witness. This made her part of a wider group of
people who “study the Bible directly and try and draw the most truthful unadulterated
facts from it” and hold views and do things that are “a little contrary to what other
people do...Like we don’t do birthdays and Christmas”. Her religious beliefs and
practices meant she was “constantly...standing out” and felt “a lot of pressure...to
conform to...world standards” both inside and outside of university.
Henry did not find his religious beliefs and views were challenged in class as a
computer science student. Unlike subjects such as philosophy where the reality of God
is contested, there was typically no reason to discuss God and issues about religion in
computer science. Henry did however find his beliefs and views were challenged in
articles and letters in the student magazine at university: “it’s got very interesting views
on things that are often different to what I think”. Henry rather than feeling different in
a formal class setting felt different in an informal student publication. Although this
publication did not personally attack him, it made him feel marginalised.
According to Gregory having different religious views were problematic because “as
soon as you say something different from that…perspective which academics…and
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society has in general these days you…get shunned”. This reality for Gregory came
from academic rules and ways “kind of...getting...thrown out and tossed away when you
want to talk about religion”. Gregory’s experience suggests that the classes he has been
in have come from a single academic discipline that has not considered a religious
perspective. Acknowledgement of such perspectives, when appropriate, is an important
part of cultural responsivity in education that seemed to be missing from Gregory’s
experience.
Many of the students’ values and principles that guided their actions distinguished them
from their secular peers because of their religious groundings. Sebastian’s life was
guided by the Biblical teaching “treat your neighbour as yourself” and both Henry and
Mary referenced Jesus Christ as a model of what it means to be a Christian in their
respective traditions: “I try to act as a person who follows Jesus” (Henry) and “Being
religious is genuinely striving to be more like Christ” (Mary). The students’ secular
peers did not have these religious groundings because they gained their values and
philosophies by and through other means.
Two students, Joan and Gregory, both spoke about the advantage having different views
gave them in an academic setting. Joan said:
I think being a minority…does make you very critical. Probably more
critical of the things that you’re taught or you’re learning. Like if you
believe something different to what you’re being taught, when you’re
taught it you’re gaining another perspective which is very important.
Whereas students who aren’t religious…it…might just be a reiteration of
everything they’ve ever known and they might not be thinking about the
other perspective which the minority believes.
Joan felt being religious made her sceptical when presented with information in a
tertiary setting. This meant she did not blindly submit to what she was taught, but rather
took the information on board as another perspective different to her own, for example
the evolution, as opposed to creation of the human species. Gregory also shared: “I’m
able…to critically look at claims people make especially from science”. Gregory
recognised that science and religion were quite often at odds with one another, took
advantage of his religious knowledge and integrated it into science, when secular
students could not. His religiosity provided a check on the legitimacy of what was
presented to him and whether it fitted with his own beliefs.
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Feeling confused resolving conflict of being stigmatised/stereotyped.
Mary felt different and abnormal for being religious. She spoke about the
incompatibility of her lifestyle as a religious young person and student, which for her
was almost contradictory. Mary was aware that religious people and students can both
carry negative connotations and be stigmatised differently: “student in and of itself has
a stigma, like college kids are supposed to drink and party” and “there’s that
stereotype…of…Christians behaving in a certain way and one of that is not drinking”.
This created a dilemma for Mary: “Like the fact that I don’t drink. You get stigmatised.
It is the norm but it’s not a good thing and we get looked at wrong for it. So I think
that’s why I get so confused as a student…and…a Christian”.
Mary’s religious beliefs, practices and university student identity meant she had to
resolve a conflict. She either conformed to student norms which were often counter to
being religious or she had to “embody certain characteristics in certain environments”
so she was not judged, but rather accepted. This meant she had to compromise values
that she should be trying to live by as a Christian in order to fit in to the university
environment, where she said: “there’s a battle between...my Christian self and my
worldly self”. Whilst Mary wanted and thought that her faith “should happen 100% of
the time” it did not. Mary said: “I know what I should be doing but I don’t always do it
when He (God) wants me to do it”. This led her to conclude that if she acted like other
typical non-Christian students and used foul language: “being a student…
…world…ruin…her…Christian chances”.
Difference as something positive.
Both Asha and Vijay, who were the two non-Christians, had a different outward
appearance because their religious traditions and customs required them to dress and
appear differently to secular students. Asha for example wore a head scarf. She
expressed strong reasoning for wearing a head scarf: “To hide beauty...to get
respect...and not being judged for...showing your body and being judged for
your...knowledge and your heart”. This difference was positive for Asha as it helped
ensure she was not objectified, but rather valued for things other than her appearance.
Vijay’s appearance as a Hindu meant he had a “tilak-chandlo” (red dot) on his forehead
and sometimes a “U” as well. The reasoning Vijay gave for his appearance was that
“the U stands for the feet of God and the red dot is his ideal devotee”. Vijay felt his
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tilak-chandlo contributed to his positive identity of being religious, because students
were “more interested than trying to mock…his appearance”. Such interest gave Vijay
opportunities to educate others about his religion.
Being a religious student, Joan felt that when she was presented with ideas in her
lectures she had the willingness to “think...about the other (religious) perspective” and
that she was able to “see both sides (the secular and religious sides) possibly easier”.
Joan’s difference to her secular peers was beneficial: “if you believe something that is
different to what you’re being taught, when you’re taught it you’re gaining another
perspective” and she gained pleasure from holding views that were challenging to her
secular peers: “I kind of enjoy sometimes being the one to ponder a provocative
question”. Having a religious perspective enabled Joan to challenge and encourage
others to broaden their consideration of what her and her peers were being taught
beyond what was familiar or logical to them.
Super-Theme 3: Being Religious Involved Inter/Intrapersonal Challenges
The third super-theme was being religious involved inter/intrapersonal challenges. The
students experienced a number of difficulties as a result of being religious. They spoke
of having their faith/religion dismissed, misunderstood and not accepted. They also
encountered stronger challenges that involved their faith/religion being criticised to the
point where they felt marginalised and no longer willing to enter into discussions about
religion with non-religious people. Interpersonal challenges were much more common
across the student sample, but one student also experienced an intrapersonal challenge
involving other Christians. Each example below substantiates what being challenged
involved for the religious students, although not all of the students experienced
inter/intrapersonal challenges.
Having faith/religion dismissed.
Sebastian shared an experience from one of his university courses where he felt that not
only his own personal religion was dismissed, but religion in general: “they kind of
accept that Atheism is the only true way and any discussion that was brought up (about
religion) they kind of shot down”. Sebastian felt, the religious views that he held were
unfairly overlooked and dismissed in place of the mainstream Atheistic way of thinking.
Henry had a similar experience and said: “everything is taught...in an Agnostic kind of
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way or even that God doesn’t exist kind of way”. Gregory added that science as a
particular discipline did not entertain religious viewpoints: “I’ve always felt that
especially in the sciences it’s like an automatic dismissal of faith”.
Rachel’s experience of having her faith dismissed came from Christianity not being
given the status of being worthy of discussion. She was frustrated when talking with
students who would not engage in a discussion where religion was given a space:
“having a conversation with someone who refuses to talk about the pros and cons of the
argument it drives me nuts so I just don’t go there” and “I haven’t met many people
who will actually…sit down and apply arguments equally to both sides”. Rachel no
longer has the patience to discuss religion with non-religious people. Not only does
Rachel feel religion is unfairly treated, she has been unable to share and exchange
worldviews with other students who are not familiar with religion. Such a reality for her
has perpetuated ignorance of religion.
Dave was an exception to the other students. He thought religion was: “something
people like to grab a hold of and try to...question”. For Dave this questioning of
religion was negative, because he found it difficult to separate religion from his own
personal Christian faith. When people questioned religion he felt it was an attack on his
“personal space”. Rachel also felt when people spoke about religion it was negative,
because from her experience people like to “point the finger at the radicals and talk
about ...things like…child molestation...in...the Catholic Church” rather than “talk
about the good things”.
Mary also spoke about a time where she felt religion was dismissed. Mary had an
experience in her class where her peers and lecturer were discussing why people have
children when her lecturer said sarcastically that they were “a gift from God” and then
said “I don’t believe this”. This left Mary feeling that a religious perspective about why
people have children was not only undervalued, but rejected as wrong. This experience
was discouraging for her in terms of engaging in her class as a student and religious
person. This unnecessary rejection of something so important to her also left a bad
impression as an international student, where her experience did not reflect the inclusion
of diversity the university strove to uphold.
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Not being understood.
The students also mentioned the challenge of people not understanding their religion
which led them to dismiss and view religion negatively. This point is shown by
Gregory:
It’s not by what we do in this world in terms of our deeds but actually
by our heart and our faith that we have in Him and I think that’s one
of those things I think is important but one of these things that’s quite
misunderstood by a lot of people that aren’t Christians.
Gregory pointed out that non-Christians often look toward Christians’ actions as a way
of defining them, which is only part of, or even misrepresents what being a Christian
really means. For Gregory having faith was more important than doing good deeds to be
a Christian.
A lack of understanding or a misunderstanding of Christianity led Henry to say: “They
(secular people) can judge you according to those things that could be completely
false”. For Henry ignorance undermined the integrity and credibility of being religious
unfairly. Sebastian shared an example of this with helping non-Christians: “I feel that
it’s wrong just to want to help them (non-Christians) just to try and make them a
Christian”. Non-Christians for example may interpret being helped by Christians as
extrinsically motivated, through them “only being nice so...they (religious people)...can
get to heaven” (Gregory), rather than helping them because it is the right thing to do.
One of Gregory’s experiences was that “people just jump to conclusions…if you’re a
Christian…you must hate science”. This led him to say: “I think there needs to be an
understanding of…people’s faith…I don’t think there’s enough of that”. Gregory felt
that there needs to be more opportunities for people to be able to share their faith as a
way of addressing assumptions that are made about religious people. Such opportunities
would help challenge what he called “the established…line of thinking for a lot of
people…where…we…need…to get rid of that stuff (religion)”.
Criticism and intolerance.
The students also spoke about being criticised and religious intolerance. Rachel, had
what she described as “her number one worst experience” being religious where her
views were regarded with contempt: “these three chicks kind of cornered me and it was
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like the Spanish inquisition how could you possibly hold those views”. Rachel said:
“there’s such a strong criticism of people who believe something that can’t be proven”.
When Rachel tried to justify her view her peers said “well it doesn’t really apply to me”
and they decided that the only way her views could be explained was that she had been
“indoctrinated” by her parents.
Rachel also shared: “I find it frustrating at times that people...can say quite negative
things about being any religion under the Christian umbrella which totally would not be
okay to say out loud in a group of people about someone who wasn’t Christian
...say...someone who was Muslim”. From Rachel’s experience there was something
inherent to Christianity that meant it was treated with hostility:
it’s almost like you’re allowed to have a personal sense of religion in
New Zealand because that’s personal but the second you identify with
a set one you’re a Christian...and...I feel like there’s almost, in New
Zealand...a perception that if you’re white you don’t deserve to have a
religion.
Clarissa held similar views to Catherine: “I mean there’s a lot of acceptance for
everything except religion you know. People are incredibly anti-religion and I think
that’s an education thing”. Some of the participants felt that there needed to be a
greater understanding of faith and religion. Educating people in a tertiary context about
faith and religion may help soften the views of people who are anti-religion and may
even help them better respect it.
Joan also spoke of an experience where she was treated unfairly as a result of sharing
her religious view that opposed same-sex marriage: “they (mostly her friends
boyfriends) were very aggressive and mean and bullying over twitter and person, they
were texting me saying I was a bigot all these kinds of things”. Joan was personally
attacked for her views opposing same-sex marriage, which in her words was “more
traumatising than anything that’s happened at university”. For Joan, it was outside of a
university context where she had her most negative experience as a religious young
person. She found it difficult to defend her view which contributed to the trauma she
experienced.
Sebastian mentioned the criticism of Christianity in the student magazine: “if…it…does
bring up Christian topics it’s quite often criticising them …from an Atheistic point of
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view”. For Sebastian the student magazine was a medium for people to criticise and be
intolerant of Christianity in a tertiary education setting.
Negative stereotypes.
All of the Christian students excluding Clarissa spoke about the negative stereotypes
people gave them: “bible-bashing, conservative, judgemental. Like stuck up, you know
holier than thou” (Rachel), and “a word often used is bigot” and “intolerant or...oldfashioned even” (Henry). Gregory’s experience was that “sometimes some of the
lecturers and even some of the students...talk like we’re wackos…and…make a few like
quips or quip things about religious people”. Sebastian said he and other “people who
believed in Christianity…were treated...as ignorant fools or…people who just don’t
want to open their eyes up to the truth” (Sebastian). Joan was frustrated with staff and
students who saw Christians as an “annoying conservative voice”.
Other students suggested that the stereotypes they were given made them “not
students…but rather…something else” (Mary). From the Christians’ experiences they
were considered “boring…weird…and…different” (Mary) which challenged the criteria
non-religious students gave to students generally. Dave’s suggestion for why he and the
other Christian students experienced being negatively stereotyped was that Christianity
had a “negative connotation”. The students experienced a lot of hostility towards them
through negative stereotyping which they found frustrating.
Being marginalised.
Being marginalised was an experience of the students whereby they felt they were a
minority and held minority views that were not considered as valid as their secular
peers’ views. The students were typically marginalised during classes and tutorials and
one student also shared that she felt her and her religious group was marginalised in
their university club setting. Another student thought there was a double-standard that
worked against Christians that marginalised them. The most regular marginalisation
came from (non-religious) students rather than lecturers.
Joan highlighted the minority status that she held at university: “I’m one of a few out of
the 21,000 who believe in God, well who would classify themselves as Christian” and
what it means for her: “it marginalises me”. She talked about an experience when she
did a moral philosophy paper: “I felt marginalised...in my tutorial when I was the only
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person who thought that abortion was wrong”. This experience was difficult for Joan
because she said she loved and adopted values based on the Catholic teaching on “the
worth of life”. Her view that opposed abortion made her feel marginalised because she
did not have peers who supported her belief.
Joan also spoke about another experience in one of her tutorials where she mentioned
God. One of her peers said that the reality of God was “so unlikely” at which point
several of Joan’s other peers started laughing as “if...she...was stupid”. As a result of
Joan’s belief being challenged cynically, she felt that her beliefs were relegated to being
less valid than her peers’ beliefs. Despite Joan and her religious friends having their
own Catholic club on campus which was positive for her, she said “I still think we are
marginalised”. Gregory also felt that religious clubs were marginalised: “you have your
Christian fellowship groups here at Vic...but it’s definitely kind of off to the side”. The
marginalisation of these Christian groups has meant their opportunities to connect with,
educate and learn from other groups on campus, has been limited.
Gregory spoke about a double-standard that worked against Christians like him at
university and in society more generally. From his experience, in the case of disagreeing
with gay marriage “you automatically get called...homophobe”. At the same time
however “it’s not alright to marginalise gay or lesbian people or...people from different
cultures...but it’s all good to marginalise Christians”. Gregory’s experience was that as
a religious person part of a diverse university group he was not treated as fairly as
people from other diverse groups.
Clarissa shared about the challenge and difficulty of having a minority status: “I think it
is challenging…there’s not many Jehovah’s Witnesses at university. There’s no
Jehovah’s Witness club or...anything like that” and trying to maintain her beliefs: “it’s
challenging to stick to those beliefs when everybody around you hates those beliefs”.
By Clarissa not having her own Jehovah’s Witness club to be a part of at university and
having people hate her beliefs she felt marginalised.
Intrapersonal challenges.
Dave spoke of the challenge of dealing with conflicting views on controversial topics
such as same-sex marriage. Dave held different views to other Christians, because he is
a liberal Christian and supports same-sex marriage: “A lot of Christians don’t support
that (same-sex marriage) but for me you know I’m not against it at all”. Same-sex
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marriage was an “awkward thing” for Dave to discuss with other Christians because he
often felt hurt when they would pass judgement based on teachings that did not have
scripture behind them. Judgement from other Christians seemed misguided and felt like
a personal attack for Dave. In his opinion he felt that “you can live...in any sort of
lifestyle...and...still believe in God”.
Asha and Vijay were the only two students who did not speak of experiencing
significant life and personal challenges from being religious: “I’ve never experienced
bad within…my religion or being judged for it or anything...I haven’t experienced
anything like that just goodness from people”. She did however highlight one challenge
she had in participating in her own religion that centred on the difficulty of reading the
Koran: “It’s hard because it’s in Arabic and you must learn the language and you must
learn the alphabet and it takes a long time”.
Super-Theme 4: Being Religious is Constructive
The fourth super-theme was being religious is constructive. Students felt that being
religious was constructive despite the challenges they faced. Being religious meant the
students experienced a number of benefits, advantages and support, and religion was
seen as worthwhile and had a positive influence on their lives. Some of these benefits
were immediate, others were delayed and others were experienced recurrently. Religion
helped define the students’ purpose and identity, gave them a unique perspective,
perceived benefits after death and was of great value to them. Not only did religion help
them as individuals generally, but also as students. Each example below substantiates
why being religious is constructive and includes a range of the students’ experiences.
Praying is therapeutic.
Sebastian spoke of what praying does for him: “it helps calm me, helps reassure me,
sometimes it helps focus me”. The effects of prayer were therapeutic for Sebastian and
helped him to concentrate. Vijay also spoke about how prayer helped him cope with the
stress of studying and being a student: “Well it gives me...the strength to deal with the
stress that the university life includes I guess...assignments, deadlines and things like
that”. For Sebastian and Vijay praying was an investment of time that gave them
benefits that helped them deal with the stresses of their academic lives.
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Mary shared: “I think praying…provides a catharsis almost of like a therapist free of
charge”. She felt prayer was an effective way to express how she was feeling without
any negative consequences. Unlike when speaking to other friends who judged her she
could speak openly to God and not feel any shame. Clarissa also highlighted the
benefits of prayer: “it’s relaxing, it’s calming, it destresses”. Prayer for Clarissa was
also therapeutic.
Being religious is valuable.
The importance that the students ascribed to being religious highlighted the worth they
had for their respective religions. Religion was a necessity for them in the way that it
was life-giving and promoted good health and prosocial behaviours.
Henry spoke of the status he gave to his own religion: “The most important thing in my
life is religion. I guess it’s just my experiences through it have highlighted my need and
enhanced my belief in God” and “faith is the most important thing”. For Henry it was
his engagement in religion that highlighted the value of being religious and encouraged
his continued involvement. Religion made Henry feel needed and connected to
something greater than himself, namely his church family.
Vijay talked about how religion gave him sustenance on a daily basis and provided him
with strength:
it’s you know just as food and water...are important to have a healthy
life…food gives me the physical strength and you know this religion
gives me the mental strength to becoming a strong individual” and “I
think life without religion for me is like life without oxygen.
Although Vijay did not speak about religion providing him with virtues that are
encouraged in religion such as patience and compassion, it played a crucial role in
helping him become a strong individual. Vijay’s experience highlighted the different
types of strength one needs to function in everyday life and the way religion can help
meet those needs depending on the person.
Mary also spoke about the value of being religious: “I think it helps ground me and
gives me peace” and “being a Christian has made me more humble which has made me
more likeable and…approachable” and “being Christian helps me think more
positively…optimistically”. The benefits Mary experienced from being religious gave
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her a foundation to life that helped her at a personal level and with her prosocial
functioning.
Religion provided support.
The idea of religion being supportive was illustrated in the way it provided a source of
help and encouragement to the students. This support came from both God and fellow
religious people, most regularly in times of difficulty. The support the students received
was intangible.
Henry shared: “I guess an advantage would be that (being religious) you’ve got this
belief and you’re part of this bigger thing and that you’ve got other people who will
support you”. He recognised that whilst most of his peers did not have the same values
and beliefs as him, he was not alone as a single Catholic, but rather part of a wider
church community consisting of many like-minded Catholics. Such a reality made
Henry feel that he was not alone in his faith journey and could, for example, call on
other Catholics to pray for him in times of need.
Mary said: “I think He (God) gives you a shoulder to lay on…and…it (religion) gives
you something solid to fall back on…like a solid rock”. Mary felt confident that when
life was uncertain she could go back to her Christian grounding and particularly God for
support. One example she gave of this was having “casual conversations” with God
“without feeling the pressure of being judged”. In a world where Mary felt there was a
lot of judgement, religion and God in particular reassured her in a way that gave her
peace.
Religion helps defines your purpose and identity.
Religion helped define the students’ purpose and identity: “I guess I get…direction,
like…how I should live my life” (Henry) and “religion’s just really kind of the guide for
what I do” (Gregory). Religion for Henry and Gregory outlined the path that they
should take and what they should do when journeying along that path in their lives.
Clarissa said “It (religion) shapes my whole life...it shapes all my decisions and I think
I’ve had a pretty good life”. Clarissa’s existence was impacted by the pervasiveness of
her religion where it not only shaped, but also helps her make decisions. Clarissa also
shared that as Jehovah’s Witness “your religion is your identity”. Her involvement in
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her religion provided an all-encompassing tradition about who she is and what she is
meant to do with her life.
Being a Muslim was a defining feature for Asha who gained her life’s purpose from
Islam: “It’s like I wouldn’t have a purpose in life if I didn’t have Islam I think”. Islam
for Asha was her reason and source of motivation for living life. Gregory shared: “It
(Christianity) definitely defines what I do as a person”. He gave the example of his
interest in music which he can trace back to his younger years in church. Christianity
promoted and instilled interests and beliefs in Gregory that have stayed with him from
his childhood.
Sebastian said “in terms of who I am it’s one of the most important things”. Whilst
Sebastian acknowledged Christianity as one of his identities at university, he said: “I
don’t…think…it…has been my only identity”. For Sebastian Christianity was one of
several identities he had that contributed to his sense of self. Rachel said: “I think
(religion)…contributes to your sense of self, your sense of belonging in a particular
group that has some positive connotations to it”. Despite Rachel recognising the
difficulties that come with being religious, she acknowledged that there are parts of
religion that can be affirming for her identity such as having a (religious) culture.
Religion has benefits after death.
Several of the students spoke about the benefits they will experience after they die.
These benefits added an element of constructiveness that was not yet fulfilled that
impacted their experience of being religious. Vijay said:
If you do good deeds then you move towards a better life…and you meet
with God and his devotees…then you can get…out of the circle of birth
and death…and you can attain God’s abode. And you can eternally reside
there with God.
Asha also shared what will happen to her when she dies based on her acts of charity
where she will “build a life in the hereafter…and will have…Goodness in the
hereafter”. Finally Sebastian said: “being Christian is kind of choosing the harder
option but you don’t really look at it as inconvenient…and…you’re not really looking at
what’s happening around you, you’re looking at kind of the end”.
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Each of these students highlighted the after-life whereby religion is ultimately
constructive for them once they die. Whilst the benefits of religion after death were not
experienced by the students, the motivation that they encouraged strongly shaped their
experiences and how they lived their lives, seen for example through their commitment
to prayer.
Summary
This chapter presented the findings from the analysis of the students’ interview
transcripts. Four super-themes with multiple sub-themes were presented and discussed
under the title: being religious means engaging with the sacred. What this analysis
revealed was that being religious involved: 1) having a relationship with God 2) being
different to secular peers 3) inter/intrapersonal challenges; and 4) constructiveness.
This analysis showed how all of the students to varying degrees had a relationship with
God in their various religious traditions. Being religious meant taking part in religious
rituals and having and maintaining a commitment to their relationship with God.
Secondly, being religious meant being different from their secular peers. Several
students experienced themselves as different, unique, dissimilar and in conflict with
their peers and that they were dissimilar to them. Thirdly, being religious meant
students experienced a number of challenges because they were religious, such as
having their faith/religion dismissed and not being understood. This experience
manifested in a variety of ways including how they were dismissed, misunderstood and
were given negative stereotypes. Finally, despite the challenges the religious university
students faced they all remained religious because they found it to be a constructive
influence in their lives as emerging adults and as students. This was seen in the ways
religion gave them purpose and a sense of identity. All of these super-themes with their
multiple sub-themes were interrelated and will be discussed in detail in the following
chapter. The chapter will discuss these super-themes in relation to existing research
literature and theory and will address the implications of the findings of this study.
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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
Introduction
The essential and overall meaning of being religious was engaging with the sacred. This
meaning encapsulated the active nature of the students’ involvement in and commitment
to things with a religious purpose. Engaging with the sacred took on a variety of forms
across the student sample as a result of who or what they considered sacred. An
example of this was seen through two students seeing the Eucharist as sacred, whereas
another student saw their prayer life in the same light.
Engaging with the sacred meant having a relationship with God, being different to
secular peers, being challenged and religion being constructive. Although all four
super-themes warranted super-theme status, the two that were most essential to
understand being religious within an educational context were being challenged and
religion being constructive. This chapter discusses the benefits and challenges of being
religious in relation to theory, literature and the findings of previous empirical research,
including: literature that explores the challenges Christians (in particular) experience in
tertiary settings, as well as the benefits religious people experience in general. This
chapter also discusses the limitations of the study, its implications for future research
and makes recommendations for improving practice and the education experiences of
religious students. This chapter and study concludes by suggesting that there needs to be
a greater commitment to an inclusive education environment and an honouring of
existing university policies targeting diversity. Such commitments would help religious
students continue to engage with the sacred and feel safer and more supported at
university and for their transition beyond their tertiary setting.
The Challenges of Being a Religious Student
Being a religious student at university meant being challenged. This experience was
largely reported by the Christian students. These challenges included being different and
part of a minority group and being criticised and not tolerated. The students found these
challenges frustrating and they made their lives difficult.
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There are very few empirical studies that have explored the challenges that religious
tertiary students experience while studying. Hyers and Hyers’ (2008) and Rosik and
Smith’s (2009) studies have explored the challenges faced by Christian students and
help shed light on the present study’s findings. The non-Christians in this study
experienced very few challenges in relation to being religious and there is some
literature which helps explain this finding.
Being different and part of a minority group.
The students experienced challenges because they had different views, values and
philosophies to their peers. At university they found themselves having to resolve the
conflict of being stigmatised and stereotyped. The participants felt that other students
did not understand them, their religion or the challenges they faced. They felt they and
their religion were often dismissed, misunderstood, criticised and not tolerated, which
left them feeling stereotyped, marginalised and judged.
Oyserman and Swim (2001) pointed out that the experience of ‘difference’ is dependent
on social context. The students in the present study may have experienced themselves as
different because of the context they were in, namely a secular tertiary context. This
context not only made them feel different, but also positioned them as a minority and
means they “possess an attribute that disqualifies them from full acceptance”
(Oyserman & Swim, 2001, p. 2) by their peers and society more generally. If they had
been in another university setting (for example with all Christian students) difference
may not have been a challenge in their learning environment or to their identity.
Because the students were in a learning environment and community where contact
between minority and majority groups occur, intergroup experiences were more
pervasive for them which increased the likelihood of them experiencing stereotyping
and prejudicial behaviour (Oyserman & Swim, 2001).
Having beliefs dismissed.
Another way the students experienced being religious as challenging was through
having their beliefs dismissed or not accepted by other students and staff. This dismissal
involved the lecturers and peers undervaluing religion and not giving it the status
religious students felt it was worth in terms of being a lens for discussion.
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Rokeach and Rothman (1965) suggested that people dismiss individuals’ beliefs when
they are incongruent with their own personal beliefs (Rokeach & Rothman, 1965).
Other empirical studies have also found that religious college students experience
discrimination and have their beliefs dismissed. For example, Hyers and Hyers’ (2008)
study of 42 conservative Christian American university students explored religious
discrimination in a secular university. This study extended the work of Rokeach and
Rothman (1965). They found that 28% of Christians reported having their Christian
beliefs derogated.
In the present study the students’ secular peers and lecturers may have dismissed a
religious perspective because they did not find value in those belief systems because
they were not relatable or were challenging to what they believe. Having their beliefs
dismissed may have affected the students’ experience at university in several ways. It
may have made them feel that they needed to divorce their religiosity from their student
selves and they may have not felt comfortable bringing their ‘whole’ selves to
university. It could also have made them feel divided from their secular peers,
disconnected and that they did not fit in or belong on campus, despite being students.
Being misunderstood.
The students also found being religious challenging because they felt misunderstood.
The misunderstanding the participants experienced was about the intentions of their
actions as religious people, such as helping others and why they have faith. Nash (2007)
suggested why students may feel misunderstood and why other students may not be
aware or understand the backgrounds and beliefs of religious students:
We work hard in so many areas of higher education to engender respect,
recognition, and understanding of cultural difference. But we do little to
help students examine, and understand, their own, and others’, religious
backgrounds (or lack of them) (p.3).
Religious university students’ peers may lack education and an understanding of
different religions. Future research could assess the knowledge students have about
different religions to gauge their level of understanding about belief systems that are not
their own. Further research may also help illuminate the extent of religious ignorance
and indicate what type of education needs to be implemented to promote awareness and
understanding about religion.
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Criticism and intolerance.
Criticism and intolerance was another challenge the students faced, where their views
were attacked when their religiosity was made known. The participants felt that they
and their beliefs were unfairly treated and regarded with suspicion and contempt.
Religious and non-religious students may come to university with different worldviews.
The Christian students spoke about situations where their beliefs about believing in God
were viewed critically by their peers and the negative stereotypes (such as being
conservative and judgemental) that people held about them. The students also spoke
about experiences of hostility. One student was bullied for opposing same-sex marriage.
The students experienced conflicts in beliefs with other students, where practising
abstinence until marriage was contrary to both belief systems. Conflicts between secular
science and religion were also experienced by the students where they felt faith was
automatically dismissed with preference being given to secular science in their lectures.
Hyers and Hyers’ (2008) study found a similar trend when students documented antiChristian incidents using diaries over a one week period and found students
experienced: derogation of their beliefs, stereotyping, hostility, belief conflicts and
secular science and religion conflicts. Hyers and Hyers (2008) suggested that derogation
and ridicule is often engaged in for self-elevation, and may act as “an escape-valve for
tensions and frustrations” (C. Hyers, 2008, p. 78). They highlighted that whilst secular
universities are unlikely to endorse (all) conservative Christian beliefs, they should
encourage discussions about belief structures beyond secularism so as to ensure students
are not ridiculed or experience hostility for their beliefs (L. L. Hyers & Hyers, 2008).
Students in the current study did not speak directly about derogation of Christian
people, practices and churches or interaction difficulties as found in Hyers and Hyers
(2008) study. This may have been because the students described themselves as being
ones to avoid faith-based discussions/arguments that may incite some of the above
experiences.
Rosik and Smith’s (2009) study of 192 conservative Christian students in public and
private religious universities also found that students experienced a number of
challenges similar to those found in the present study. They found that students were
verbally insulted for having Christian beliefs and heard other students using disparaging
remarks. Their study showed that religious discrimination was more frequently
practised in public beyond the educational institution and private religious university
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setting they explored. None of the students in Rosik and Smith’s (2009) study talked
about being threatened with physical violence, having their personal property damaged,
being spat on, being punched, hit, kicked or beaten, or being assaulted with a weapon.
The students’ experiences in the present study were also free of the above
manifestations of discrimination. It appears that whilst the students often reported being
verbally abused or challenged they were not the subject of physical violence and
bullying. Whilst these findings may be indicative of the small sample size in each study,
the experiences of discrimination by the students in the present study are mild in
comparison to the possible discrimination they could have faced.
Oppression theory (Hodge, 2007b) can shed light on why religious discrimination can
occur. This theory posits that when there is a difference in worldviews as well as a
power differential, discrimination can occur (Farley, 2005; Wambach & Van Soest,
1997 cited in Hodge, 2007b). The students may have felt different to their secular peers
but also experienced a power imbalance that oppressed them where their minority
worldview was depicted negatively and overlooked (Hodge, 2007a). In the current study
an example of this power imbalance was reported by way of the student magazine
which the students said typically criticised or made fun of religion from an Atheistic
point-of-view. As the religious students’ beliefs, values and philosophies were not part
of the majority worldview their secular peers held, they may have resulted in them
becoming targets of criticism and intolerance.
Religious stereotypes.
Being stereotyped was also a challenge for the religious students. McGarty, Yzerbyt and
Spears (2002) outlined a criteria for understanding stereotypes: “(a) stereotypes are aids
to explanation, (b) stereotypes are energy-saving devices, and (c) stereotypes are shared
group beliefs” (p. 2). In summary, stereotypes are an impression or representation of a
group that assists the perceiver to explain a group or individual with little effort in a
way that is socially acceptable to the group they belong to (McGarty et al., 2002).
According to McGarty, Yzerbyt and Spears (2002) a stereotype is generally based on
“the erroneous perception of the co-occurrence of rare characteristics…and…minority
group membership” (p. 9) where the rare characteristics are usually undesirable
(McGarty et al., 2002). Hyers and Hyers (2008) also found that religious university
students experienced stereotyping and the most frequent stereotypes manifested in the
form of generalisations about Christians being “intolerant” and “extremist”. In relation
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to the present study the stereotype of being intolerant recurred, whereas the stereotype
of being an extremist did not.
Nelson (2009) made the important point that the categorization of people through
stereotypes and prejudice is most frequent in situations when people are not known very
well or cared about. It may be that because the students are not understood by their
peers they are more prone to being stereotyped. This may also be compounded by the
students’ peers not being particularly interested in getting to know them as well (T. D.
Nelson, 2009). Additionally Brodt and Ross (1998) point out that some stereotypes are
valid or can act as an accurate prediction of a group. It may be that some of the
stereotypes of the students were in fact true.
Marginalisation.
The religious students found being religious contributed to marginalisation.
Marginalisation has been defined in the literature as “the state of being considered
unimportant, undesirable, unworthy, insignificant and different resulting in inequity,
unfairness, deprivation and enforced lack of access to mainstream power” (UNDP, 1996
cited in Messiou, 2012, p. 1).
There is little empirical literature about the marginalisation of religious students at
university, however, Edgell, Gerteis and Hartmann’s (2006) study of the division of
believers and nonbelievers in America provided important insights to the present study.
Their study suggested that an “increasing convergence around a core set of religious
beliefs and practices…may reinforce intolerance of those who reject religion” (p. 214).
This may mean that there is a convergence around secular beliefs and practices that
encourages the intolerance of religion within tertiary and university education settings.
Goodman and Mueller’s (2009) article about the invisibility, marginalisation and
stigmatisation of Atheist students also provided reasons for why marginalisation occurs.
Their study claimed that “non-believing perspectives in religious and spiritual
developmental work” (p. 55) can act to reinforce marginalisation. They also suggested
that efforts need to be made to normalize Atheism to combat marginalisation (Goodman
& Mueller, 2009). With this in mind, more may need to be done to support the students
in the present study to feel that being religious is acceptable and “normal”. Furthermore,
the invisibility of religious perspectives from curriculum and material presented to
students was also an issue. Lecturers may not include this material because it is not the
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majority viewpoint. This may mean that students who hold minority viewpoints feel that
their viewpoints are not normal because they are invisible from the curriculum and
discussion material.
Personal and ideological challenges.
Students in this study experienced challenges that came from responses and interactions
with other secular students, staff and the wider university setting, but also personal
challenges that came from having to cope with ideological/moral conflicts within
themselves, and from other Christians.
One student’s challenge of having competing personalities (a religious personality and a
worldly personality) appears to be a topic of research yet to be explored. This
phenomenon involved a competition of the student’s religious personality, where she
strove to imitate Jesus Christ by being loving and faithful. Along with her worldly
personality, where she used foul language and did not act like a Christian. Future
studies could explore both the religious and non-religious personalities and identities
that students bring to and live out on campus. This may increase our understanding of
how students experience intrapersonal conflict in ideology and identity.
Another student also shared that a Christian identity was not the only identity he lives
out on campus. The concept of multiple dimensions of identity has been written about
and researched extensively (See for example Jones and McEwen 2000 and Abes, Jones
and McEwen 2007). Additionally having a religious identity has been recognised as an
important dimension for people who are part of a religious tradition (McEwen, 2003).
Future studies could focus more closely on the pluralistic and multiple identities of
religious students.
Students also experienced challenges from within their own religious communities. One
student found he was sometimes judged by other Christians. This was in relation to
times when he shared his views on controversial issues such as same-sex marriage.
Other studies have also found that there is variation in attitudes and values within
religious communities. For example, Finlay and Walther’s (2003) study of 1160
American students about religion and homophobic attitudes among university students
found that in Protestantism a wide variety of attitudes exist.
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Cultural and religious challenges.
The students in this study raised a number of other issues relating to the challenges of
being religious. First, the non-Christian religious students reported experiencing few or
no challenges. They may have come from conservative religions where speaking
negatively about their own religion is forbidden or frowned upon. The single Muslim
student in the study did not report experiencing any challenges. Another possible reason
may be that she lacked lived experience of being a student at the time of being
interviewed (she had been enrolled for only one semester) and unlike the other
participants who had been at university for at least one year, she may not have been at
university long enough to have experienced any significant challenges. Alternatively
she may not have felt comfortable discussing them with a Western researcher or been
aware of them.
The only Hindu student in the study sample may not have experienced any challenges
because he was born and grew up in New Zealand. He may have learned from
experience about how best to live out his faith to not have challenging experiences at
university and in society more generally. Alternatively he could have adopted religious
coping strategies that mitigate or draw his attention away from the challenges he
experiences (See for example Falb and Pargament 2014).
Other participants raised the important intersection of religion and culture. One
Christian student felt that being white in New Zealand meant that you cannot claim
religion as your culture, whereas if you are non-white you can. If such a reality was true
it would inevitably have made being religious more difficult for the white students in
this study.
Being Religious is Constructive
One of the reasons the young people maintained their religious faith and activity is
because of the benefits it had in their life. Engaging with the sacred, despite presenting
emerging adult students with challenges was also a constructive influence in their lives.
Being religious brought students a number of benefits or advantages including: praying
being therapeutic, personal value, support in times of need, a sense of purpose and
identity, and benefits that come after death.
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Praying is therapeutic.
Being religious meant students often engaged in prayer and they found it calming,
reassuring and therapeutic. One student also said prayer gave him mental strength to
deal with assignments. Prayer was a medium for the students that put them in a relaxed
state of mind generally and whilst completing their studies. Empirical studies have
found similar benefits from praying.
Anye, Gallien, Bian and Moulton’s (2013) study of 225 American college students
about behavioural expressions of religious activities, found prayer was one of the best
predictors of positive health. The positive health benefits the students experienced were
both physical and mental, although it was not specified what these physical and mental
benefits were. How exactly religious activity influenced health and well-being was not
clear but one author suggested religion discouraging unhealthy behaviours such as
abusing alcohol and smoking (J. W. Jones, 2004) as a reason for these benefits.
The finding that praying is therapeutic is also endorsed in literature which recognises
that prayer is a positive and adaptive coping strategy (C. L. Park & Slattery, 2013).
Pargament, Kennell, Hathaway, Grevengoed, Newman and Jones (1988) have
highlighted three prayerful approaches one can take towards God. First there is a
collaborative approach where a person and God take responsibility for and address the
problem one is having together. Second, there is a deferring approach where a person
defers the responsibility of a problem to God. Third, there is a self-directing approach
whereby God is recognised as giving people freedom to actively solve problems
themselves. The third approach in particular was one that the students in this study
adopted in their prayer life because using this approach the students could talk to and
discuss their issues with God (Spilka & Ladd, 2012). Moreover in this approach God
serves as a “therapist” (Joris, 2008 cited in Spilka & Ladd, 2012), which is one of the
ways the students viewed God.
Being religious is of personal value.
The university students found being religious and having a relationship with God the
most, or if not, one of the most important parts of their lives. According to the students
religion was a source of life for them and meant they became stronger and more
prosocial individuals. It gave them mental strength and made them more humble and
likeable.
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The value university students give to religion and spirituality has been cited in previous
empirical research. For example, Kane and Jacobs (2010) in their study of 204
American university students, found participants were likely to agree that religious and
spiritual beliefs were important and valuable to them in the way they helped them deal
with difficult situations. These difficult situations included overcoming problems such
as substance abuse and depression. These beliefs were important because they
ultimately helped the students promote and maintain good health (Kane & Jacobs,
2010), especially through prayer and meditation.
The value of religion in helping students to be prosocial and optimistic about life has
also been a source of more recent research and discussion. Stavrova and Siegers (2014)
suggest that being religious provides people with a number of benefits and is valuable
because “All world religions contain ethical principles that prescribe prosocial and
other-regarding behavior” (p. 315). The students’ commitment to following the ethical
principles that characterised religion may be a reason why religion helped them to be
prosocial. Students might also have found religion to be of value because it may have
helped them redefine life stressors or given them a new direction in life (Pargament,
Falb, Ano & Wachholtz, 2013).
Religion provides support.
Religion also provided students with two important types of support: a social support
network they could access in times of need and a relationship with God who was seen
as a supportive force they could turn to. Being religious meant that the students could
call on fellow religious people in times of difficulty and God especially when their
religious social network was unable or refused to help them.
Previous studies and scholars have discussed the social support benefits religion
provides. In Park and Slattery’s (2013) study the students benefitted from being
religious because it brought them into contact with other students who shared their
religious beliefs and provided them access to supportive relationships. Doane’s (2013)
study of 324 Irish university students also found that “religious communities are
environments that foster unique supportive relationships” (p. 61). Hovey, Hurtado,
Morales and Seligman’s (2014) study of 200 American university students found that
the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and mental health was mediated by
religious-based social support. In particular their study highlighted that it was the
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comfort of knowing one has a religious support network that was most important to the
mental health of students. Students in the present study reported that there was a strong
element of knowing that they could rely on God in times of need, which reinforced the
supportive relationships they had with their religious peers.
While it can be claimed that secular individuals are also capable of having strong social
support networks Ladd and McIntosh (2008) highlight that there are several differences
between religious and secular social support. First, religion provides a “more or less
coherent framework for understanding life” (Ladd & McIntosh, 2008, p. 27). This
framework or system consists of explicit and implicit propositions that religious
traditions claim to be true (Spiro, Killborne, & Langness, 1987). For the students in the
present study, their religious traditions, with their various sacred texts and teachings
helped explain how they should each live life, and reassured them that what they were
taught and were attempting to live out was the truth. A second key difference, according
to Emmons (1999) is that this “religious meaning system and its associated goals” can
act as, and be, the most reliable source to make sense of adversity (Emmons, 1999, p.
151). The students acknowledged the way God helped them find meaning in minor
experiences of adversity. For example, adversity was seen as something that made them
stronger or tested their faith. A third difference, was that being religious enabled people
to draw on the social support of prayer (Ladd & McIntosh, 2008). The students in the
present study did not mention that they had asked their religious family and friends to
pray for them, but they may still have felt supported by knowing that being prayed for
was a possibility.
These and other supportive benefits that come from ‘being connected’ to others through
religion are well documented in the literature. Social support is of fundamental
importance for young adults who are university students because it is a time of
significant change and adjustment (Baqutayan, 2011). Emerging adulthood is a time
when many young adults are seeking greater independence and want to gain more
responsibility (Baqutayan, 2011). At the same time students experience many pressures
such as being accepted by their peers and living in a world with mixed values
(Baqutayan, 2011). All of these factors and many more can add to the academic
pressures students face and their ability to perform well in their tertiary studies
(Baqutayan, 2011). Social support however can be credited with helping to counter
students’ pressures.
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Park and Slattery (2013) said that “One of the most obvious benefits to those involved
in organized religion is the social support that comes with that involvement” (p. 547).
This support is varied and can include emotional support, as well as access to goods and
services (Turner-Musa & Wilson, 2006). Those involved in religion also gain a sense of
community and connectedness (Falb & Pargament, 2014) to other like-minded people.
For some of the students God was also a source of support. Ladd and McIntosh (2008)
point out that social support for religious people, unlike social support for secular
individuals includes the presence of a deity. In instances where a secular individual may
not receive, or have their social support withdrawn from their network of contacts, they
are unable to turn to God as a secondary source of social support (Ladd & McIntosh,
2008). Pargament, Falb, Ano and Wachholtz (2013) endorse this point by including
‘seeking spiritual support’ as an important part of religious coping whereby God acts as
a source of comfort, and brings reassurance through His love and care.
Sense of purpose and a positive identity.
Being religious meant students could draw upon their religion to help define their
purpose and identity. Each of the students’ religious traditions gave them direction,
provided them with a constructive and helpful guide to living life and helped inform
them when making decisions. The reality of religion defining one’s purpose and identity
has received extensive attention by researchers and scholars.
Many studies have focused on purpose and identity in young (religious) peoples’ lives.
In Leak’s (2009) study of 228 American university students it was suggested that there
is an empirical link between identity and faith development. This finding was attributed
to a “conceptual overlap or common denominator between the two different types of
active exploration of alternatives: moratorium in the realm of identity and openness in
personal religiousness” (Leak, 2009, p. 213). Religion also seems to mediate between
life purpose and well-being. Byron and Miller-Perrin’s (2009) study of 103 American
university students assessed whether or not life purpose is a mediator between the
constructs of faith and well-being. Although Byron and Miller-Perrin’s (2009) study
could not assume causation in their findings, they found that: “faith seems to foster life
purpose, and life purpose seems to foster well-being. Faith also fosters well-being, but
primarily through its contribution to a sense of life purpose” (Byron & Miller-Perrin,
2009, p. 68).
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Other studies have also supported the idea that religion can provide young people with a
sense of purpose in life to guide their actions and development. In Maltby, Lewis and
Day’s (1999) study of 474 under-graduate students in the United Kingdom, an intrinsic
orientation towards religion, was found to have a significant association with better
psychological well-being, than extrinsic orientations. An intrinsic orientation involved
living one’s religious beliefs (Allport & Ross, 1967) and was inclusive of practices such
as personal prayer (Maltby et al., 1999) and an extrinsic orientation involved using
religion, for things like status and security (Allport & Ross, 1967).
Falb and Pargament (2014) highlighted that religion offers clear guidelines about what
is right and wrong in such forms as commandments and precepts. According to Byron
and Miller-Perrin (2009) “Faith is one construct that has been theorized to relate to life
purpose” (p. 64). Moreover King (2003) pointed out that “Religion intentionally offers
beliefs, moral codes, and values from which a young person can build a personal belief
system” (p. 198) where such beliefs, codes and values encourage a healthy and positive
way of living. Being religious may provide students with these benefits, but having a
defined and healthy life purpose and identity have also been found to be an effective
driver of academic success in education. Students who have a strong sense of purpose
and identity (where they know who they are and what they want) have been found to do
better academically and have been associated with being strong motivators to achieve
classroom goals (Bronk, 2011). Conversely, a lack of purpose and identity in the lives
of young people can also lead to both personal and social pathologies (Bronk, 2011) and
so religious students who lack a sense of purpose and identity may also experience
challenges.
Benefits in the afterlife.
Religion provided students with certain benefits that they anticipated would come after
death. This reality was yet to be fulfilled, but shaped the experiences of the students.
While the students were living life they were looking forward to the benefits they would
receive in the afterlife. The students’ perceptions of the afterlife motivated them to be
committed to each of their religious traditions. A number of studies have investigated
the potential benefits of afterlife beliefs in young people. For example, Flannelly,
Ellison, Galek and Silton (2012) have found that a positive outlook towards the afterlife,
including reunion with loved ones and eternal residence with God promotes good
72
health. Park and Slattery (2013) also point out that afterlife beliefs can act as a source
of comfort during times of trial or psychological distress.
Holding various afterlife beliefs in emerging adulthood has also been investigated in
empirical research (Arnett, 2004). Using data taken from his broad study of emerging
adulthood, Arnett (2004) explored young peoples’ beliefs about what happens when
they die. Using questionnaires as well as an extensive interview, he found that there was
much variation in what the young people, whom over 80% had at least some level of
college attainment, believed would happen. Of particular relevance to the present study
are the students that had positive beliefs about the afterlife. Arnett’s (2004) study
highlighted the benefits of positive afterlife beliefs for young people such as the hope
gained from believing in life after death and how these beliefs helped them deal with
suffering. The findings of the present study were similar to Arnett’s (2004) findings in
that a belief in the afterlife encouraged the students’ earnest participation and
commitment to religion and contributed to perceived benefits for them.
Implications and Recommendations
There are a number of implications from this study for developing a deeper
understanding of what it means for a young adult student to be religious and for
improving the education and positive development of young people.
Understanding the lived experience of religious university students.
The phenomenon of being a religious university student was at the centre of this study
and there are a number of issues that need to be considered regarding future research to
understand this phenomenon. First, when studying religiosity it is important to consider
that both the extent and intensity of religiosity occurs on a spectrum. The students’
religiosity varied from being quite mild to devout. This for example was seen through
some students only attending religious services rarely, whilst for others religion
permeated virtually every aspect of their lives.
Second, being religious is multifaceted. Religion should be seen as something that can
be lived out in a seemingly endless number of ways. For some of the students being
religious meant having personal prayer time, attending meetings to explore their
religion further and participating in international events with other like-minded
believers.
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Third, students’ lived experiences of religion can be very personal. For example they
may want to keep what they pray about private. This may sometimes hinder a
researcher’s ability to gain access to the lived experience of students being religious.
Researchers may need to concede that some aspects of being religious are too personal
to be discussed and probed so as to ensure study participants feel safe and comfortable.
Fourth, students sometimes found articulating their experiences of being religious
difficult. This can create a challenge for understanding and interpreting religious
experience. This occurred in the present study when some students were unable to
identify a word or metaphor that encapsulated their experience of being religious.
Researching what it means to be religious may require employing additional or other
research methods than the interviews used in this study, such as observations.
Employing additional research methods that enable young people to express their lived
experience (for example narrative, photography, art) may also broaden the possibility of
co-creating meaning in instances where participants find it difficult to articulate their
experiences.
Finally, it is sometimes difficult to understand and interpret experiences that are foreign
to one’s own existing knowledge or experiences. Some students in the present study
took part in religious traditions that were unfamiliar to me. This required questioning
these students more extensively to gain understanding, than in instances with students
whose religious traditions I was more familiar with.
The present study and its findings challenge researchers to consider diversity when
choosing participants, to rethink religiosity as being problematized and to consider
utilising a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. This study and previous research
shows that emerging adults who are religious do not make up a homogenous group.
Many overseas studies had Christian samples when assessing religiosity and spirituality.
These studies had little variety in their findings. The present study included a more
diverse religious sample and this helped the reader appreciate that being religious is not
experienced with uniformity.
Researchers also need to consider that the experience of ‘difference’ or experiencing
challenges at university for being religious is not negative for all emerging adults. For
example one participant in this study highlighted that the university had strengthened
his Christian faith. By this student enduring the challenges he faced he grew into a
stronger and more mature religious person. In this way being challenged was beneficial
74
for him. Difference also needs to be considered in relation to the researcher’s own
experience and stance. This study showed that challenges can come from outside and
within one’s own religious tradition.
Many overseas studies highlighted the challenges religious people experience from
sources outside of their religious tradition, such as being discriminated against by
nonreligious people. Few studies have focused on challenges that are internal and come
from others who share the same faith tradition. An example of this was seen through
one Christian student feeling judged for agreeing with same-sex marriage. This
understanding gives the reader a greater appreciation of the complexity of the
challenges religious people face.
Researchers might also wish to consider the benefits and rigour that comes with
utilising a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and IPA as a method of data
analysis. Data analysis and interpretation in this study were iterative and ongoing and
called for co-construction of themes and meaning. For example, whilst it was originally
deemed that “being religious is worthwhile” best encapsulated a collection of the
students’ positive religious experiences, through further checking and deeper analysis of
the hidden meaning in order to get to the essence, it was decided that being religious
was more than worthwhile, it was constructive. By giving being religious the label of
being constructive, the worthwhileness of religion was acknowledged as well as the
experiences of religion building the students up, giving them life and helping them
develop positively.
Employing a methodology like hermeneutic phenomenology, qualitative analysis is a
personal process (Smith & Osborn, 2010) that enables the researcher to be fully
immersed in the data and acknowledges their role in interpretation. My interpretations
throughout this thesis are subjective, so understanding is created through my own
analytical lens. The transferability of such interpretations is dependent on other
researchers seeing my interpretations as plausible and relevant to their studies. It is also
dependent on the quality of data provided for those interpretations which need to
include thick, rich lived experience descriptors.
Supporting religious students.
Students who are transitioning in and out of tertiary institutions as well as those
currently studying may experience additional stressors (Baqutayan, 2011). It appears
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that being a religious student comes with additional challenges that occur at an
interpersonal and institutional level. This study highlights the lived experience and
meaning of being a religious student but also some of the benefits and challenges that
religious students’ experience studying within a tertiary education setting. There are a
number of ways that tertiary providers can develop their awareness and understand the
lived experience of religious students, support their development and address issues
such as marginalisation and discrimination of religious people. These strategies include:

Learning more about their lived experience and learning needs of young
religious students;

Improving equity and diversity through policy development;

Integrating religion and inclusive teaching of ideological views into the
curriculum;

Improving student-teacher interactions;

Addressing
student-student
interactions:
reducing
discrimination
and
marginalisation between students and promoting cooperation;

Holistic development strategies.
Each of these will be discussed in more detail in the following section.
Promoting awareness and understanding of religion.
Being a religious student meant being challenged and sometimes being misunderstood
by others. Universities need to consider what within their setting contributes to this and
what can be done. Researchers and scholars have been debating for some time whether
secular universities could be doing more to promote discussion and educate students
about religion. Religion in universities is a contentious issue. Tisdell (2006) in her work
highlighted that in the 20th century discussion about religion and spirituality in secular
universities was discouraged. Others such as Lindholm and Astin (2006) have noted that
in American society the spiritual dimension of people’s lives has traditionally been seen
as too personal to discuss in both business and academic contexts.
The students in this study reported that discussing religion and sharing personal aspects
of their faith at university was difficult and awkward. Scholars have noted that in recent
times “In secular institutions, especially state-supported colleges and universities, there
is often a strong prevailing ethos of avoidance of discussion and attention to religion
and spirituality” (Dalton & Crosby, 2007, p.2). For some students the separation of
76
religion from education may not be problematic. Universities could do more to promote
religious understanding on campus and better understand their religious student
population. The emerging adults in the present study only represented a fraction of
religious people at their university numerically and in terms of their faith tradition.
When students enrol they should have the opportunity to declare their religion, so
universities can develop a more accurate picture of religious students and what faith
tradition they belong to in order to meet their needs.
Religious students could benefit from increased opportunities to participate in processes
related to university governance, for example student representatives and from
participation on councils. They could also benefit from participating in policy and
service development. Religious students (like all students) need opportunities to work
alongside their universities to have a voice and to help the university develop effective
services and strategies for supporting religious students. This would help promote
awareness and understanding of their experiences and needs and provide them with
ways to report and provide feedback about their learning and other experiences on
campus. Such feedback would be valuable to help the university improve the quality of
its services and education experience and to help students feel they are active, valued
and critical members of the academic and university community. This would also assist
universities to provide meaningful activities and programmes that religious students feel
reflect their backgrounds and needs, respect their culture and enable them to feel
connected to the university. They could also provide more opportunities and actively
encourage students to take part in curricular and co-curricular activities and
programmes designed to include and showcase different religions and enable them to
observe their own religious traditions. For example, recognising the unique observances
of religious groups such as Ramadan for Muslims, in a culturally sensitive way.
Improving equity and diversity through policy development.
Improving equity and diversity through policy development involves universities
acknowledging and including all demographics in their policies. Many universities have
specific policies that seek to promote equity and diversity. Religion is a part of the
definition of diversity. For example, Victoria University of Wellington has an Equity
and Diversity Policy (Victoria University of Wellington, 2014) as part of their Equity
and Diversity Strategy 2010-2014. Diversity is defined in section 3 as:
77
Understanding, appreciating and realising the benefits of individual
differences, backgrounds and experiences, reflected in members of the
University community. These may include disabilities, differences of
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age,
religious beliefs or political beliefs.
This definition clearly recognises religion as an important part of diversity and a
characteristic of the university community.
Universities need to ensure they have effective strategies in place to meet their aims of
religious inclusion, for example by honouring the sections of (New Zealand) legislation
they cite. Policies that are implemented need to be evaluated and kept up-to-date.
Students and staff should be made aware of these policies to ensure they know their
rights and what behaviour is acceptable on their university campus. Students must be
made aware that discrimination, including religious discrimination, is unacceptable and
can be disclosed and dealt with promptly.
One of the reasons why religious students experience challenges is that “In their efforts
to be tolerant and respectful of differences, colleges and universities can mistakenly
promote an atmosphere of benign neglect, indifference or even hostility toward religion
and spirituality” (Dalton & Crosby, 2007, p. 2). Whilst at an institutional and
administrative level, tertiary education providers may not be openly hostile towards
religious students, their (lack of) efforts creates a tolerant tertiary community, rather
than a pluralistic community characterised by “learning, growth or transformation”
(Kazanjian & Laurence, 2007, p. 5). A pluralistic community is possible and something
that universities and other tertiary providers should aim for. A pluralistic education
environment is desirable because “Students need to be prepared to live and work
collaboratively with those with whom they have profound and seemingly irreconcilable
disagreements regarding the role of faith” (Subbiondo, 2006, p. 20). Not only will this
create a respectful awareness of religion and spirituality (Subbiondo, 2006) in students
and staff, but it will also help address the criticism that religious students experience.
Integrating religion into the curriculum and inclusive teaching practice.
The students in this study reported feeling that their religious views, perspectives and
beliefs were either invisible, dismissed or criticised within the university environment
78
by Agnostic/Atheistic teaching and a denial of their religious perspectives. Taking an
integrative approach to the curriculum could help resolve this issue.
Oman, Flinders and Thoresen (2008) highlight the problematic nature of lecturers not
including a religious perspective in their teaching where it is appropriate. In their
opinion the way religion is taught or spoken about can ultimately affect the behaviour
and values of students. They said:
if the importance of religion in history or as a source of what is good
and worthwhile in life is not presented, or it is presented cursorily or
simplistically, students may gain the false impression that religion is
unimportant in larger society or is merely a collection of inexplicable
superstitions, devoid of compassion, critical reflection, and wisdom
(p.81).
Excluding or devaluing religion in lectures may deny or undermine its importance and
its beneficial elements in an academic setting and in wider society.
Integrating religion and inclusive teaching of ideological views into the curriculum is a
strategy that gives religion the status of being considered worthy of discussion and
critique in academic settings. Several authors have made suggestions about how to
improve awareness and inclusion of religious views in the curriculum. Subbiondo
(2006) has advocated for an integrative approach. He says: “higher education should
devote itself to creating and exploring initiatives that will integrate a respectful
awareness of religion and spirituality into the curricular and co-curricular programs and
activities” (p.20) of its campuses. Subbiondo’s (2006) concern is that spirituality and
religion have generally been relegated to religious studies and theology courses.
Integrative learning, however, can be used to reduce the divide between tertiary
education and religion and spirituality (Subbiondo, 2006). According to Huber and
Hutchings (2004) integrative learning can include: “connecting skills and knowledge
from multiple sources and experiences; applying theory to practice in various settings;
utilizing diverse and even contradictory points of view; and, understanding issues and
positions contextually” (p. 23). Integrative learning has in the past been credited with
challenging narrow perspectives and liberating students from social constraints that stop
them from participating responsibly in society (Huber & Hutchings, 2004). In this way
integrative learning can improve students’ communication with one another and help
address the misunderstanding and ignorance of students who are not familiar with
79
religion. What this ultimately means for religious students, such as those in the present
study, is that they can feel more connected to their peers and inclined to communicate
with them.
Several suggestions have been made about how to include a religious perspective in
tertiary settings and affirm religion and spirituality for students. One way for educators
is to acknowledge that religion has been of profound importance in many peoples’ lives
in the past (Oman et al., 2008). At the same time they can promote the strengths and
virtues that come from, and are endorsed in religion such as being compassionate
(Saroglou, Pichon, Trompette, Verschueren, & Dernelle, 2005) to help give value to
religion and spirituality. A second suggestion is to encourage students to study spiritual
models such as Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi and their perspectives (Oman et al.,
2008). This allows students to go beyond their own personal insights and experiences
(Nord & Haynes, 1998) to broaden their perspectives of religion. A third suggestion is
for educators to invite guest speakers or generate discussion about the relevance of
spirituality in various careers (Oman et al., 2008). This helps students recognise that
religion and spirituality can and may play more of an important role in their future
careers than they may think.
There are, however, a number of barriers to implementing an integrative curriculum.
One such barrier is the separation of academic knowledge into disciplines (Schneider &
Shoenberg, 1999). The challenge to an integrative approach is that staff and students are
faced with having to teach and learn about a wider diversity of topics and approaches
when many students are not socialised to view disciplines as interdisciplinary, thus
creating insularity (Schneider & Shoenberg, 1999). A second barrier is that there can be
resistance from teaching staff and administration to adopt an integrative learning
approach and challenges that come with changing campus culture, staff and dwindling
funding (Huber, Hutchings, Gale, Miller, & Breen, 2007).
A final issue is that
universities need to assess in what way they can begin “adopting or creating initiatives
suited to its educational character and mission” (Subbiondo, 2006, p. 29). With this in
mind it may be that some initiatives are more appropriate to implement than others.
Addressing student-student interactions.
Being a religious student at university meant being challenged by peers and fellow
students and experiencing marginalisation and criticism. Positive student relationships
80
and connectedness and the importance of these have been of interest to scholars and
researchers for some time. Johnson (1981) said that “Constructive student-student
relationships are probably an absolute necessity for maximal achievement, socialization,
and healthy development” (p. 5). There are a number of strategies universities can use to
reduce experiences of marginalisation and criticism and promote positive relationships
and cooperation between students.
Johnson (1981) has argued that the starting point for improving student-student
interactions is to make sure that the students are already interacting. Following the
establishment of interaction educators must ensure that it takes place in a safe and
supportive context, so as to ensure learning goals are met and conflicts of opinion are
managed (D. W. Johnson, 1981). Finally, educators should encourage and be supportive
of students’ interactions, while at the same time be willing to give them freedom to
build relationships with one another (Sidelinger & Booth-Butterfield, 2010). One such
way to build relationships is to provide students with opportunities for cooperative
learning (Deutsch, 1962; Johnson & Johnson, 1975 cited in D. W. Johnson, 1981).
Using a goal structure educators can correlate students’ achievements against their
cooperation with one another (D. W. Johnson, 1981). In this way students from varying
backgrounds can interact with and get to know each other better, while at the same time
unite with one another to achieve common goals. Teachers could encourage students to
share their worldviews rather than focusing on religion when discussing identity and
beliefs. This could encourage religious and non-religious students to be more
forthcoming and receptive to discussion about religion. Presenting religion within a
worldview may give their faith/religion institutional and intellectual credibility (Nord,
1995) and help prevent experiences where they feel they are being personally attacked.
Glanzer (2004) has suggested that an effective way to address the dismissal of
faith/religion, which can happen in student interactions, is to not focus discussion purely
on religion when discussing identity and beliefs. This is because “one can deny having a
religious identity or beliefs or one can easily claim that religious beliefs do not
influence one’s interpretation of experience” (p.3).
Holistic development strategies.
Each of the strategies and implications discussed above could be implemented
individually or as part of an integrative approach to support positive development and
learning in religious students. Astin and Astin (2010) recommend a holistic approach to
81
religious discrimination and promoting understanding, but also suggest creating
professional development programmes for staff, hosting guest speakers and organising
forums. According to Astin and Astin (2010) “the higher education community can
become more responsive to students’ holistic development by paying greater attention
to their inner lives” (p.8). Such a focus may also assist in the process of addressing the
discrimination and marginalisation of religious students. The methods outlined by Astin
and Astin (2010) to attend to students’ inner lives include:

“Offering opportunities for spiritual reflection and discussion during activities
such as student orientation and programs targeting students during their first
year and sophomore years;

Using new faculty orientation as an opportunity to discuss ways to attend to
students’ spiritual development in the classroom and beyond;

Creating professional development programs to prepare staff, faculty, and peer
leaders to participate in and facilitate discussions on spiritual issues;

Creating places for reflection and quiet dialogue on campus;

Creating inter-faith forums on spirituality and religious diversity;

Developing guiding principles to facilitate conversations on spirituality;

Integrating discussions of spirituality in living/learning communities and
residence halls;

Hosting guest speakers and forums to encourage discussions on spirituality; and

Incorporating spirituality into campus mission and vision statements” (p. 8).
Inaction and tolerance is not good enough
Inaction to address ignorance and nurture understanding about religion may come at a
cost including religious Balkanization (the division and fragmentation of higher
education campuses) and the “ triumphalism and suspicion of others” (Nash, 2007, p.
3). Stereotypes such as Christian students being “goody two shoes” and “wackos” are
problematic and the foundation on which fragmentation is built. In the words of Nash
(2007):
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Stereotyping (no matter how trivial) frequently breeds counter
stereotyping, born out of defensiveness and anger. Anger sometimes
results in separation. Separation easily grows into separatism and
isolation. Balkanization, in turn can lead to a defiant exclusionism”
(p.3).
Such exclusionism is neither desirable nor acceptable in an environment where
university students should feel included. It may be that religious students are not a
‘visible’ minority, so more may need to be done to ensure they are not excluded.
Students in this study felt like they were criticised and were at best only tolerated for
being religious. Kazanjian and Laurence (2007) state that merely tolerating different
religious views is not good enough. In their words:
Tolerance...is little more than conflict arrested. It is a harness applied
to the destructive forces of ignorance, fear, and prejudice, and it
provides a kind of wall between warring parties…As such, tolerance
is not a basis for healthy human relationship, nor will it ever lead to
pluralistic community, for tolerance does not allow for learning,
growth or transformation, but ultimately keeps people in a state of
suspended ignorance and conflict (p.5).
Kazanjian and Laurence’s (2007) words are effective at illuminating the realities of
tolerance. Whilst tolerance may be considered preferable to situations of physical
violence or persecution it is only a starting point to pluralistic community. By
implementing the aforementioned strategies to address religious discrimination,
inclusion can become a part of the religious students’ experiences so they can feel
united with their peers in an environment where they can succeed and thrive.
Limitations
The present study used IPA to explore the lived experience of being religious in
emerging adults’ within a tertiary education setting. In order to conduct a successful
study using IPA the research question one is attempting to answer must be a proper
phenomenological question (Van Manen, 2014). This question should investigate
something that is experientially recognisable and accessible so lived experience
descriptions can be gained (Van Manen, 2014). The research question in the present
83
study was a proper phenomenological one because it was formulated to gain an
understanding about what it means and was like to be a religious emerging adult within
a tertiary education setting. Moreover, the topic of interest in this study, namely one’s
personal experience of religion, was not something that the students had been asked
about before. This added to the rigour of my study because the material that was asked
about and collected was pre-reflective and experiential. To guarantee that future
inquiries investigate phenomena that are experientially recognizable and accessible
(Van Manen, 2014) researchers should ensure that once they have formulated a proper
phenomenological question it remains at the centre of their research inquiry from the
beginning to the end.
This study used purposive sampling which has a number of limitations. Johnson and
Christensen (2012) point out that the generalizability of a study sample to a wider
population is severely limited. They recommend obtaining a random sample from the
target population to address this limitation, which due to time constraints was not
practical in this study (B. Johnson & Christensen, 2012). Related to the above limitation
is that there is a strong possibility of researcher bias (Mugera, 2013, April) when
recruiting a non-random sample of participants. Researcher bias however is typically
only considered to be a limitation when poor judgements are made by the researcher
(Mugera, 2013, April), of which none are apparent in this study.
When conducting a phenomenological study it is crucial that all of the participants that
are included have sufficient experience of what is being investigated so they can reflect
on it (Van Manen, 2014). All of the participants in my study were able to reflect on their
lived experience of being religious, but there were some limitations in their (nature) of
lived experience. First, one of the students had only been at university for one semester.
This meant the student had limited experience of what it is like to be a religious student
in a tertiary education setting. To avoid including participants with limited lived
experience future studies could have a requirement about how much experience
participants must have had to be included in the study that is being conducted, for
example three to four years.
A second limitation was some participants had limited experience of ‘being religious’
and ‘being a student’. For example, for the student in the sample who studied computer
science, religion was never discussed or came up in his class discussions. This resulted
in his experience of being religious and a tertiary student being limited. Future
84
researchers who conduct research about religion in a tertiary education setting should
consider the university major(s) of the students who take part in their study and ask
participants whether religion has been discussed or is an issue in their classes. Such a
consideration will help with the recruitment of samples that have students with deep and
rich experiences of being religious and a student.
Third, the study included participants from a limited number of religions which
narrowed the type of meanings being religious could take on. Phenomenological studies
usually restrict their participants to a single characteristic, for example the same age
group, or demographic background. They do this in order to get to the essence of their
lived experience. However, future studies exploring religion in tertiary settings could
consider focusing on religions other than Christianity and Islam and/or recruit a broader
range of religious students from traditions that were not represented in this study or
previous studies, including Buddhists and Jews. This would give the definition of what
it means to be religious a deeper and richer focus and add to the understanding of the
phenomena. Alternatively future studies could broaden the number of religious
traditions to be studied, but focus on each religious tradition individually in detail and
then explore ‘being religious’ in depth across religious traditions.
Fourth, there were differences in the lived experience of participants based on their
developmental stage/age that could have influenced the findings. This could have
influenced their experience but also their interpretation through the time they have had
to develop their cognitive and meaning making abilities. In future, narrowing the age
range of participants could help readers recognise the significant developmental
differences that can exist between 17 and 25 year-olds.
The data collection method in the present study was semi-structured open-ended
interviews. This method was effective in gaining deep and rich descriptions of the
students’ experiences, but did create some issues. One such issue was that the
participants sometimes found it difficult to answer the questions I formulated. An
example of this was the question I asked about what metaphor or word best describes
being religious for them. I subsequently discarded this question as it did little to
generate meaning about the students’ experiences of being religious. A second issue to
arise was lack of experience using phenomenological methods. Van Manen (2014)
points out that in phenomenology it is important that the phenomenological method and
question remain prominent in all stages of the research process. As a result of being an
85
inexperienced researcher and interviewer using phenomenology there were times during
data collection where the students’ experiences were not always at the centre of my
study. A situation where this occurred was when I asked about how other students
perceived them. Such a question was not conducive to sound phenomenological inquiry,
because it was not about the students’ own lived experiences but rather focused on their
perceptions.
A third issue was that the data about the students’ experiences was collected indirectly
by what the students said, rather than being witnessed first-hand. Future studies could
broaden data collection to other methods such as observations of students’ participating
in their religious environments so data can be collected more directly. Such a suggestion
has previously been made by Mattis (2002) who conceded that words may not always
suffice to gain a detailed understanding of peoples’ experiences of religion and
spirituality. Fourth, the present study did not utilise follow-up interviews. Although
they were deemed unnecessary, future studies that employ qualitative interviews may
benefit from conducting secondary interviews to further probe areas of interest, clarify
meaning and the significance of the language and experiences of participants.
An additional issue encountered during the data analysis phase of this study was
interpreting the students accounts literally while at the same time searching for hidden
meanings. At times it was difficult to determine whether there was something hidden in
what the students said. In such instances I analysed the text around the extracts to gain
further insight and to contextualise what was said. In situations when I was still in doubt
I approached my supervisor and we discussed and contested possible meanings. The
final decision about what the students’ experiences meant was made by me because I
had knowledge of the participants’ interviews and had conversations with them before
and after they took place. My own religiosity may also have affected the interpretation
and analysis of findings in this study. Although my own religiosity may have
strengthened the interpretation process by providing me with prior knowledge about
some aspects of religion, as it was not possible to bracket my pre-understandings. My
supervisor did, however, challenge me on various issues and constructions of meaning
when they seemed to reflect my religious background more than the participants’ lived
experience.
86
Phenomenology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Many authors and scholars have highlighted the limitations of phenomenology and IPA.
A leading problem in phenomenology is that the analysis stage of an inquiry is iterative
in nature (Murray & Chamberlain, 1999) and could theoretically continue infinitely
(Brocki & Wearden, 2006) where an individual interpretation of a researcher could not
possibly exhaust the meaning of a text (Geanellos, 2000). Clarke (2009) agreed that an
issue with phenomenological analysis is the time it takes and depth it requires. A second
key problem is that researchers need to be aware of the limits of the representation of
their data (Brocki & Wearden, 2006). In some instances data may only represent the
experience of one or only a few participants, which may not make the data essential to
the data set’s experiences.
Collins and Nicolson (2002) state that when employing IPA the “search for connections,
similarities or divergences across cases misses a potentially richer seam of data, that of
a contextualized, unfolding and sequential account within a single interview” (p. 627). It
may be that in a researcher’s pursuit of the essential meaning of their participants’
experiences across their data set that they miss important points that illuminate the
experience they are exploring from individual accounts.
Another problem is that researchers do not always recognise the theoretical
preconceptions they bring to the study they are conducting (Brocki & Wearden, 2006).
This problem undermines the accessibility and clarity of one’s research processes and
findings to outsiders (Brocki & Wearden, 2006). As IPA is a relatively new research
paradigm (Larkin, Watts, & Clifton, 2006) the extent of its effectiveness is questionable
in some disciplines, even arguably in the discipline of the present study, education.
Ricoeur (1971) highlighted another limitation through the best way to assess the
importance of an individual’s lived experience being through guessing. Geanellos
(2000) points out the limitations of such a phenomenological approach. First, it does not
allow for the co-creation of understanding between the participant and researcher;
second, it takes away the relational aspect of experience where one interacts with other
people; and third it promotes authorial meanings that create singular and unchanging
knowledge, because the emphasis is on the researcher’s interpretation.
Lindseth (2004) also noted that using phenomenology as a research method can be
plagued with issues such as participant recall. For example, even if a researcher recruits
87
participants who have had an experience of the phenomenon of interest they may not
remember their experience clearly or accurately. This problem is compounded by the
fact that a researcher also cannot entirely recreate the event the participant has had,
because they can only analyse the participant’s account and not their real lived
experience (Tan et al., 2009). With all of these limitations and challenges in mind it is
not surprising that Larkin, Watts and Clifton (2006) have said that “accessing the
‘experience’ of individual persons is a notoriously problematic and complex pursuit” (p.
108) even using phenomenological research methods.
Reliability/Integrity and Trustworthiness.
Despite these limitations in the research methodology and methods there are strategies
that can minimise these issues and promote reliability/integrity and trustworthiness. The
strategies used in this study included: (i) keeping a diary to document my research
decisions and reflect on whether my religious predispositions had affected my research;
(ii) having regular meetings with my supervisor to ensure my religiosity did not
influence the interpretation of my findings and (iii) member-checking with participants
to make sure my interpretations were accurate. Each of these strategies promoted
academic rigour in this study.
The reliability/integrity and trustworthiness of this study could have been strengthened
if I had upskilled as a qualitative investigator (Patton, 1990 cited in Shenton, 2004)
before beginning my study. This study was my first attempt at conducting research
using IPA which meant I did not always employ sound IPA research methods. Another
way the study could have been strengthened was if I had replicated the line of
questioning from previous successful studies (Shenton, 2004). There are few qualitative
studies that have explored religiosity in university students and this study did not look
to previous qualitative studies regarding what questions they asked their religious
participants. Doing so may have made the questions in the present study more refined
and appropriate.
Another strategy that could have strengthened my research was utilising peer scrutiny
throughout the various stages of my study (Shenton, 2004). Peer feedback from other
researchers was not sought or received so they were not able to challenge the
assumptions and interpretations I made about the students’ experiences (Shenton, 2004).
An additional strategy I could have used was utilising a random sampling method for
88
the recruitment of participants to ensure they were representative of the larger religious
university population (Hamil, Dufour & Fortin, 1993 cited in Shenton, 2004). This
strategy reduces recruitment bias but has been criticised for allowing the inclusion of
inarticulate or uncooperative participants (Shenton, 2004).
Some authors and researchers have suggested that researchers should familiarise
themselves with the organisation or groups that (potential) participants are going to
come from (Shenton, 2004). This took place in the present study, where I contacted
each of the religious groups at Victoria University of Wellington. However, I did not
make a specific effort to dialogue with any of the groups I contacted other than making
them aware of my study. This was with the exception of the Christian group I visited at
their weekly meeting. Researchers need to balance encouraging potential participants
and working with key gatekeepers without putting demands or pressures on the groups
and organisations to participate (Shenton, 2004).
Findings.
There are several possibilities why some of the findings in this study were different to
previous studies. First, the methods used to collect and analyse the findings in this study
substantially differed to those used in previous studies. In Hyers and Hyers’ (2008)
study diaries were used to record experiences of discrimination. This study was also
inductive, keeping in line with the phenomenological tradition of keeping an open and
curious mind about phenomena, whereas previous studies have used deductive
approaches. Rosik and Smith’s (2009) study used surveys in a deductive approach,
where their findings were organised under pre-existing categories. This may have
resulted in a difference of findings and themes compared to the present study that used
an inductive approach, where themes were developed thorough IPA and an iterative
process. Another possible reason for the differences was because of cultural differences
between students studying in tertiary institutions across countries. For example, the
percentage of Christians in the United States of America (78.4%) (PewResearch, 2013)
is much greater than in New Zealand (48.9%) (Statistics New Zealand, 2014). This
demographic difference may account for some of the variance regarding minority status
or being marginalised. Although it cannot be assumed that American Christian students
feel more or less like they are a minority or marginalised compared to New Zealand
Christian students, this demographic difference may explain why Christian students in
previous American studies did not have or report these experiences.
89
Differences in the student populations might also account for differences in findings. In
Rosik and Smith’s (2009) study half of their findings came from students attending a
Christian university. Presumably this would mean the Christian students who took part
in their study were not in an environment where they were a minority or marginalised,
hence this experience was not reported in their study.
Future Directions
The present study focused on emerging adults’ experiences of being religious within a
tertiary education setting in New Zealand. In future the understanding of this
phenomenon could be advanced in a number of ways by answering questions that arose
throughout this study. Future studies may wish to consider the following questions:
1. Why is it that/do all Christians find being religious challenging while studying at
(New Zealand) tertiary campuses?
2. Why is that/do all non-Christian religious people find being religious
constructive while studying at (New Zealand) tertiary campuses?
3. What are the experiences of Atheist tertiary students on (New Zealand) tertiary
campuses?
4. What are the experiences of non-religious students who attend classes and
engage with religious students?
5. What have been educators’ experiences of integrating and teaching religious
students at New Zealand universities?
6. What are religious students’ experiences of being stigmatised and stereotyped at
university?
The present study found that the experience of challenge was more predominant in
Christian students than the non-Christian students. While some of the students made
suggestions about the reason(s) for this, it was not explored as part of the present study.
An area of future research could include Christian and non-Christian religious students
and explore the lived experiences of individuals who do not profess or affiliate with any
religious faiths, or that attend classes with religious students. Future studies that include
non-religious studies would help shed light on whether religious students and their nonreligious peers share similar or unique challenges and how they cope with these within
educational contexts.
90
Future studies could incorporate the experiences of educators in the role that they have
played to integrate and teach religious students. Very little was gleaned from this study
about the commitment of lecturers to include religion and religious students in
education and what difference this might make to how religious students experience
religion and being connected. Finally, it may be that in the first instance, tertiary
providers could investigate the spectrum of religion on campus and the number of
followers from each respective religious tradition. This would inevitably give a clearer
picture of what being religious can look like and mean, and for what percentage of
tertiary students this applies to. However, there is a need to follow up quantitative
surveys with qualitative research like the present study to better understand why and
how students experience being religious on campus.
Conclusions
This chapter discussed the research findings of this study in light of relevant empirical
studies and literature and my own critical reflection on the findings. The essence of
being religious for the ten tertiary students interviewed in this study was engaging with
the sacred. This essential meaning encapsulated the students’ experiences where they
had an affinity to a higher being, were dissimilar to most of their peers, experienced
difficulty and criticism and worthwhile benefits.
Two super-themes: being religious is challenging and being religious is constructive
were discussed because they were the most relevant to the educational and
developmental context of this study. The findings of this study echoed the findings of
previous studies and also shed light on unique lived experiences of being religious in a
tertiary education setting not explored in previous quantitative studies. The implications
of the findings from this study were discussed to highlight what they meant for
education in tertiary settings. The limitations of this study were identified and a number
of suggestions made for future studies interested in exploring the experiences of religion
and young people.
The present study highlighted the importance of an integrative approach in education
where religion is included in curricular and co-curricular activities and programmes.
The reason for this was because the students were engaged with the sacred, but were not
necessarily engaged with their university in a way that made them feel like they were
connected and that they belonged. The students gained enjoyment and strength from
91
engaging with the sacred which helped their academic lives and positive youth
development. Religion should be supported and nurtured for students who make
positive gains in their youth development, because of the strong and significant
developmental influence it can have (Furrow et al., 2004).
All students need to feel they belong and are supported in their learning. They also have
a right to be educated in an environment free from fear, criticism and disrespect. In
future, religious students may need to be more prominently identified as an equity group
for targeted action at universities and in tertiary education providers’ equity and
diversity policies. This will help ensure that they are not only included, but can thrive at
university in ways that promote their development as academics and future citizens.
92
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Appendices
Appendix A
BEING RELIGIOUS AT VICTORIA
UNIVERSITY
Invitation:
You are invited to take part in a research project about the experiences of religious
university students aged 17-25. This will involve participating in a one to two hour
confidential interview about your experiences as a religious university student on and off
campus and what these experiences mean for you.
Study objectives:
This study will advance the understanding of Victoria University students’ experiences
of being religious in a tertiary education setting. The study will look to inform the
development of programmes and practices to ensure that religious students at Victoria
University of Wellington are included and supported.
If you would like to participate, please contact:
Thomas Dravitzki
Mobile 027 384 0088
MEd Student
Email dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Faculty of Education
Victoria University of Wellington
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
Thomas Dravitzki
027 384 0088
dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
101
Appendix B
TRANSCRIBER CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT FORM
Research Study titled: A phenomenological analysis of the construct of 'religion' in
emerging adults within a tertiary education setting.
Principal Investigator: Thomas Dravitzki

I have read the information sheet outlining this study.

I have discussed with the researcher the nature of the research and have had any
questions that I have had answered to my satisfaction.

My role as the research transcriber has been outlined to me by the researcher.

At all times the research information (tapes and transcripts) will be inaccessible
to other persons.

The researcher has assured me that he will debrief me following transcribing to
address any issues that transcribing bring up for me.

Most importantly, I understand and agree to keep the information I hear and
type in the course of transcribing confidential to the researcher and myself.
Transcribers’ Full Name: _______________________________________
Signature: __________________________________________________
Date: ______________________________________________________
Researcher’s Signature: _______________________________________
Date: ______________________________________________________
102
Appendix C
INFORMATION SHEET – PARTICIPANTS
BEING RELIGIOUS AT VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
A study of the experiences of emerging adults (17-25 years of age)
Principal Investigator/Researcher: Thomas Dravitzki, Master of Education student with the
Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington.
Why is the research being done?


Little qualitative research has been done in New Zealand that explores the experience of
emerging adults aged 17-25 who are religious and how this influences their experiences
as students. I want to know more about:
o What does being religious involve?
o What is the importance of religion in your life?
o What does being religious mean within a university context?
This research will inform an understanding of youth development and students’
perceptions of their learning contexts and experiences and findings will help will inform
ideas about how to support religious students and the promotion of inclusive education.
Participation (Do I have to take part?)




Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary (your choice). If you decide to take
part you will be asked to sign a consent form to show you have agreed to take part.
Information you provide will be kept confidential and no one (family/whānau, friends)
will be told that you are being interviewed without your consent.
You can withdraw from the study at any time prior to the interview and you can also
stop and withdraw from the interview/s at any time. You can also withdraw your data
from the study up to two weeks after the final interview.
Participation in the study will not cost you any money, nor will you be paid to
participate in the research.
The interview/s (What will I have to do?)
 Interviews will be conversational in style and will take place at the Victoria University
of Wellington, Kelburn Campus (or another appropriate venue).
 The interview/s will be audio-recorded and will last approximately 1-2 hours.
 You may be invited to consider taking part in a follow-up interview so I can gain more
detail about your experiences, their meaning, and give you the chance to add anything
further that you wish to share.
 You will have the opportunity to review a summary of key themes from your interview.
103
Benefits and risks of being a participant (Why should I take part)?




In an increasingly secular (non-religious) country few opportunities arise for young
people to voice their experiences, thoughts and perspectives about what being
‘religious’ means to them, how this might differ from spirituality and why they choose
to be religious.
There is a lack of national and international research on religiosity that involves young
adults and students studying within a tertiary education setting.
This research may help students develop a better personal understanding and
appreciation of their own religion and how it shapes their educational experience and
may help Universities better understand and support their student population.
The health and wellbeing of participants is of the utmost importance throughout the
research process. As a result of this, if at any stage during the interview/s you for
example become upset or distressed the interview can be stopped. At this point you can
stop your involvement in the study, reschedule the interview, or continue the interview
when you feel ready to do so. Information regarding support and counselling services
will also be provided to people who indicate they need some support around their
experience.
What about the privacy and confidentiality of the information I provide?



All identifying information and names will be removed from files, transcripts and notes.
You will be able to choose your own pseudonym or fake name.
All files and information will be saved in a secure filing cabinet or password protected
file on the computer and destroyed at the end of the project.
If you disclose during the interview, or any other time, that you (or those close to you)
are at risk of harm I will discuss my concerns with you and what information will be
passed on to my supervisor and appropriate services.
What will happen to this research study?



This study is for fulfilment of a Masters of Education degree. A full copy of the study,
in the form of a thesis, will be deposited in the Victoria University of Wellington
Library.
You may request a summary report of the overall study by filling in the appropriate
details on the bottom of the Consent Form.
The findings from this study, and short-quotes and de-identified data may be used in
academic or professional publications and disseminated at academic conferences, and
for professional development and training purposes. The research study is expected to
be completed by March 2015.
Research rights
In New Zealand all research involving human participants must be approved by a Human Ethics
Committee, which may be contacted if you have any concerns. Ethics approval has been granted
for this study by the Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics Committee (Reference
Number 20867)
You can also contact me:
Thomas Dravitzki: MEd Student
Faculty of Education,
Victoria University of Wellington
Mobile: 027 384 0088
Email: dravitthom@myvuw.ac.nz
104
Or my supervisor
Chris Bowden
Faculty of Education
Victoria University of Wellington
Mobile: 021 1758185
Email: chris.bowden@vuw.ac.nz
Appendix D
INTERVIEW GUIDE
A phenomenological analysis of the construct of 'religion' in emerging adults within a
tertiary education setting.
Principal Investigator: Thomas Dravitzki
I want to understand your experience of being religious. I am looking for a description
of your experience of religion and what it means for you.
Interview Questions
1. Tell me a bit about yourself.
2. Tell me a bit about your religion – what are some of the important practices, rituals,
traditions?
3. What are some of the most important ideas in your religion?
4. What aspects of/or ideas in your religion do you most identify with or feel strongly
committed to?
5. Why are these ideas important?
6. Can you tell me a bit about how religion shapes your life as a young person and
student on and off campus?
7. Can you tell me about how important you think religion is for you?
8. What metaphor(s)/word(s) best summarise what being religious means for you?
Wrap Up Questions
1. Is there anything else you want to tell me about your experience that we have not
discussed?
2. Would you be willing for me to contact you with any follow-up questions I may have
about what we have discussed?
3. If over the next two weeks you remember something you would like to add you can
contact me.
105
Prompts (to clarify any ambiguous, missing, confusing information)
Prompts to gain further description
 How did that happen? When did that occur?
 You mentioned…can you tell me a little more about this event/experience?
 You talked about…what was your reaction to this?
 Can you tell me more about the events that led up to this?
Probes to clarify meaning
 What did that mean for you?
 What was that like?
Probes to encourage participant introspection and reflection
 What is an example of that?
 Why do you think that happened?
 What were your thoughts at the time?
 Can you tell me more about why this is so significant to you?
Question specific prompts/probe
1. You mentioned…can you tell me a little more about this tradition/activity?
2. You said on/off campus you feel…can you tell me a little bit more about why
you feel this way?
You mentioned…happened to you on/off campus, can you tell me more about
the events that led up to this?
3. Where do you think your strong commitment to…came/comes from? Is this
different for men and women? Or different religions? Or different students?
4. You mentioned when…happened, how did this event change the way you
practised your religion?
5. You mentioned the word(s)/metaphor…can you tell me a little more about
where this comes from?
Questions following on from other interviews
1. Another participant in this study said…
How do you feel about (for example, being religious) being described as…do you dis/agree, if
so why?
106
Appendix E
107
Appendix F
PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM
I have read and understood the Information Sheet on “A phenomenological analysis of the construct of
‘religion’ in emerging adults within a tertiary education setting”.
I have had the opportunity to consider the information, ask questions and discuss this study. My questions
have been answered satisfactorily.
I have had the opportunity to use family or whānau support or a friend to help me ask questions and
understand the study.
I understand that taking part in this study is voluntary (my choice) and I know that I may withdraw from
the study at any time and up to two weeks after the interview/s, but after that the interview/s would
become part of the research data.
I understand that any information I provide will be kept confidential to the researcher (Thomas Dravitzki)
his supervisor (Chris Bowden) and the person who transcribes the recordings of my interview(s). The
published results will not use my name, information identifying location of events and people will be
disguised or removed, and that no opinions will be attributed to me in any way that will identify me.
I understand that there is no payment for my or anyone else’s participation in the study.
I understand that the audio-recorded interview and data pertaining to the research study will be destroyed
at the end of the project.
I understand that any information used from the study for purposes such as publication in academic or
professional journals or dissemination at academic or professional conferences will be anonymized.
I have had time to consider whether to take part. YES / NO
I agree to the interview being audio-recorded. YES / NO
I would like a summary of the interview/s transcript. YES / NO
I would like a CD/audio file of the interview/s. YES / NO
I would like a summary of the overall research results. YES / NO
I ______________________________________ (full name) hereby consent to take part in this study.
Signature _____________________________________ Date _________________
Project explained by __________________________________________________
Signature ____________________________________ Date __________________
Postal
address
for
interview
summary,
CD
and/or
overall
results
summary
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Email address for correspondence and copy of the audio file to be sent to: ____________________
108
Table B: Characteristics of study participants
Participant
pseudonym
Sex
Age in
years
Religious
tradition
University major
Time spent being
part of religious
tradition
Place of birth and New
Zealand or International
student
Ethnicity
Joan
Female
19
Roman Catholic
Law and History
11 years
NZ/ NZ domestic student
NZ European
Mary
Female
22
Protestant (Baptist)
Psychology
Since birth
Haiti/ International student
Haitian American
Asha
Female
19
Muslim
Education and
Philosophy
Since birth
Ethiopia/ NZ domestic student
Somalian
Dave
Male
20
Christian
Law and Arts
Since birth
NZ/NZ domestic student
NZ European
Sebastian
Male
21
Christian
Psychology
As long as he can
remember
NZ/NZ domestic student
Pakeha/Maori
Gregory
Male
25
Christian
Education
Since birth
NZ/ NZ domestic student
NZ European
Clarissa
Female
21
Jehovah’s Witness
Since birth
NZ/NZ domestic student
NZ European
Vijay
Male
20
Indian
Male
23
Hinduism 20 years,
BAPS Swaminarayan
5 years
Since birth
NZ/ NZ domestic student
Henry
BAPS
Swaminarayan
Hindu
Roman Catholic
Criminology,
Anthropology and
Sociology
Biology and French
with a minor in
Statistics
Computer Science
NZ/NZ domestic student
NZ European
Rachel
Female
24
Anglican
Cognitive
Behavioural
Neuroscience
Since birth
NZ/NZ domestic student
NZ European
109